Sisterhood
by smileyfacer
Summary: Sarah had not seen her sister in a long time. When Nicole suddenly shows up at her porch, due to a holiday without her loving husband, Sarah is thrilled to see her. But there is always more than meets the eye. IHxOC
1. Prologue

Okay, I've been reading plenty of stories about Lennox's niece, brother or sister, but what about Sarah's relatives? We haven't heard much of her, so I decided to give it a go.

**Summary: **Sarah had not seen her sister in a long time. When Nicole suddenly is on their porch step, due to a holiday without her loving husband, Sarah is thrilled to see her. However, there is always more than meets the eye. IHxOC.

**Published: **6/11/2010

**Words: 643**

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Prologue

Ever since I married Tom, the relationship with my sister and mother had gotten worse. From the first day, they had not liked him. However, he and my dad were like to peas in a pod. They had both enjoyed each other's company, whether it was a fishing or hunting trip, or just watching Alabama against Auburn in football. That was about the only thing that separated the two. My father graduated from Auburn in 76', and Tom was a proud Alabama fan. My mother hated him, saying that he was just liked my father. At first I pretended I did not know what he meant, but deep down, I knew it.

I knew it alright.

According to my father, a good family was a family that never cried. At a very early age, we were not able to cry, and with Sarah being the oldest, she understood that. She had been through the same at the age of 4 or 5, we were not allowed to cry when we went out in public. If we cried or misbehaved, a much worse punishment would await us within the 'safety' of our own home. Our mother feared him, and he loved it. The sick old man enjoyed seeing the fear shining in her eyes when he stood before her with raised hands. When she cried, we cried, and he would hit her harder. When my mother's screams ceased, it was Sarah's turn. She was oldest at that time, being 6 and I was 2. I hated seeing him taking of his black leather belt, and starting beating her till her back was almost flowing with blood. My mother always tried to shield us when he got too rough, but when she did so, he was never hesitant to let her blood flow.

It had taken my mother 10 years to escape him. In the darkness of the night, she had grabbed a sleeping I and taken Sarah's hand. She had stolen all of his savings, which he old-fashion-minded kept in a 'secret' place in his room, and his car. We continued to drive for hours, and we rarely stopped. When we did, the break was no longer than 5 minutes, as she feared someone could come after us. We drove for weeks, living off the scarce money he had been saving up, the cheap bastard. But we were free, and she was no longer in his grip. She had managed to get away.

It had taken me 6 years to get away. 6 years of constant physical and mental abuse. But now, as my mother, I was free.

I was unsure of what to do next. As my mother, I was filled with fear. The blood from the beating earlier that day had dried on my scarred back, and I managed to hide my bruises well with the rare amount of makeup he had bought for me. He didn't want any other man to look at me, and no one did. Like my mother, with the moon guiding my way, I left.

As the car ate up miles, and I got closer to where I wanted to be, the same thought struck me again.

_I was finally free._

_

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_

A/N: Gosh, what a sad sad SAD chapter I just wrote! Wow, I'm so sorry, but it's kind of necessary. I have never read anything about Sarah's history, but I figured I'd give it a go.

So, we have Nicole, Sarah's sister, who is on the run from her abusive husband. I'm sorry if this seems totally wrong, but I figured that not all families have a good history. But anyway!

Read, review and make my day!


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 

The gravel crunched underneath the car tires, and the snow melted from their heat. The woman inside had sunglasses on, together with long jeans and a hoodie. She enjoyed her clothing, as the cold was nothing to joke around with. Although, she did feel quite silly with sunglasses on in the middle of December, as the winter sun was barely anything compared to the sun of the summer.

"_It got to be here…" _she thought.

She looked at the picture she had received in the mail years ago, along with an address. She was unsure if the address was correct, but the house looked just like the one in the photograph.

On the picture, there was a medium sized porch, with blue handrails on the edge and a small stair with four steps that led up to it. The blue contrasted the brown walls nicely, and it certain gave it a rustic look. There was two windows on each side of the door, and she was certain there was more on the back and around it. The yard was one big mess, with weeds dominating most of it. She looked up, and saw a few changes.

The handrails had been painted white, and the walls were starting to lose their shine. She was sure Will would take care of that later on, if he was not too busy with the military. The yard was under control, with no weeds around, and she figured it was Sarah's doing. The parking space was still on gravel, but a white picket fence surrounding it and it had withered, yet cute flowers behind it. At least they'd be cute in the summer.

"_Always the gardener…"_

The woman silently thanked them for living far away from most roads, as the car's left side blinker had been on for five minutes.

"_It's your sister. You can go in. You haven't seen her in 3 years." _

With a firm grip on the steering wheel, and her foot on the gas, she slowly turned and heard the gravel crunch again. She was unsure if the family had heard her, but she was happy that it seemed they hadn't. She had to get herself together first.

The last time she saw Sarah, was when she had visited her in her home in Alabama. She remembered the day. It was 3 years ago.

_As Sarah stepped inside the door, Nicole wondered what had brought her the entire way from Nevada to Alabama. She supposed it was great news, and she was happy that Tom wouldn't be home for another 3-4 hours. Before Nicole got the chance to offer Sarah anything, her older sister blurted the news out._

"_I'm pregnant!"_

"_Oh my gosh! Are you really? How far are you?" Nicole squealed and immediately held her sister tight. She hadn't had the chance to embrace her family for such a long time. _

"_7 weeks! Isn't it just great?" Sarah cried, and wiped away the tear that hung in her eye. They embraced again, and they went to the kitchen. _

_The two had chitchatted for hours, about everything between the earth and the sky. Nicole realized how much she had missed her sister, and grew bitter at her husband. She had never hated the saying 'speaking of the Devil' more than now, as Tom almost broke the door when he came inside. _

_Tom was only a man of manners in public. At home, he was the master, and Nicole his servant._

"_Woman! Where is my dinner!" he yelled as soon as the door loudly smacked. He barged into the kitchen, and was shocked to see Sarah sitting there. If eyes could kill, the humans facing each other off, both could order their coffin already._

"_Well miss Sarah, how nice to see you again!" he said, and put a fake smile on his face. _

"_Spare me Tom, I was already showing myself out." She hissed and rose. _

"_Let me show you out sis…" Nicole said and rose as well. But before she managed to do so, Tom was hovering over her._

"_I am sure Sarah can find her way out herself. She is such a smart woman." _

_Sarah smiled sweetly, and kissed her sister on the cheek, before leaving without a sound. She tried to hold back tears as she heard the fight that went on in the house. _

Nicole shuddered at the memory, and looked around to make sure there was space for Will when he came home. Space was not an issue around here, and with a hesitant foot stepping down on the gravel, she walked towards the porch. Her heels clacked against the stone stair, and a sudden bark startled her. She withdrew her hand, but reached forward to knock.

Just as her hand rose to knock on the door, the door opened with a loud creak. Sarah's blonde hair had not changed, neither had her sparkling blue eyes. She was as beautiful as she had ever been, and even though she had gotten a few wrinkles around her face, Nicole could not place a flaw.

"May I help you?" she smiled and looked at the car. She seemed confused about the female wearing sunglasses in December, but she didn't comment. The woman that stood before her sighed, and slowly took them off.

Sarah took a hand up to her face to hide her shocked expression.

"I was faster than mother…" was all Nicole said, as she read the horror on Sarah's face.

"Come on in love, quickly." She said and ushered the fragile woman inside her house.

It was about as rustic on the inside as it was on the outside, with wooden furniture dominating the room. There was a comforting fire going on in the fireplace, and the aroma of sloppy Joe's was hard not to notice.

"Down boy. I said down!" Sarah hissed at the dog inside. Nicole squeaked, as she had never liked large dogs. Tom had had one. That had been a German shepherd, while Nicole recognized this as a Labrador. She felt more comfortable, as she knew they were more likable, and cuter than a shepherd.

The dog was clearly obedient, as he slowly returned to his basket, and sighed pleasantly with his chin resting on the wooden edge.

"Belle is sleeping, so don't worry about her for a minute." Sarah said, who began raiding the kitchen for a wet cloth.

"Can I see her?" Nicole asked out of the blue.

"Nic, is it really a good time, now that you're look-"

"I have never put eyes on my niece." She said, and her lips began to quiver. "Please?"

Sarah sighed and motioned for her sister to come along. They went upstairs, which Nicole had not noticed when she was outside, with four bedrooms and one bathroom.

Sarah led her to a room, which had glitter plastered all around the door, and with a Disney princess hanging around here and there. There was even pink glittery letters spelling 'Annabelle'. Nicole smiled, and was sure she had gotten her feminine side from her mother. Sarah had adored anything that sparkled or glittered.

"My baby got good taste." Sarah proudly said, and silently opened the door.

Nicole always got a lump in my throat when she entered a toddler's room. Maybe it was because it reminded her of things, or the fact that she had never gotten the chance to have a child. She shuttered, but walked inside the room.

Just as on her door, pink and glitter was _everywhere_ in the room, and Nicole shot Sarah a smirk.

"As I said, my baby got good taste! What can you do?" she grinned and led Nicole over to the baby bed.

She was just as beautiful as her mother. Her soft hair was lighter than Nicole could ever recall Sarah's was, and she indeed looked like a sleeping angel. Annabelle tossed slightly, and turned her head. As Nicole was leaning over to get a better look at the child, she woke up.

When her small eyes adjusted themselves to the light, Annabelle saw Nicole.

And cried.

A cry so loud, and piercing, that the dog was there within a matter of seconds, barking away and Nicole had turned away so Sarah could get to her crying child.

"Shhhh, shhh my baby. It's alright, it's just auntie Nic." Sarah cooed, and mouthed 'I'm so sorry' to Nicole. Nicole just nodded, and went on a frantic search for the bathroom.

It was not hard finding it, it was harder dealing with what she saw in the mirror. She didn't blame Annabelle for crying, as tears started to take shape in her eyes.

Her left eye was a darkest shade of purple, without actually making a bleeding gash, and her lip was swollen. It looked like she had gotten botox or some other crazy remedy to looking more attractive, but it had gone terribly wrong.

"_How could such a thing ever be attractive?" _she thought, and then shrugged. _"Maybe the result with botox had been better…" _

She could barely see out of her right eye, since it had swollen due to a punch there. Her eyelid was covering most of the eye, and she appreciated that Tom had punched less hard on her left eye; otherwise she would've been completely blind, and then she would never have made it so far.

Bitterly, she remembered a quote from Abraham Lincoln. It had comforted her through those 6 years with Tom, and it was strange uttering it with freedom behind her.

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." She muttered, and began to pad her wound with a wet piece of toilet paper.

The price for freedom was high.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Even though Annabelle was supposedly in her 'terrible-twos', Nicole found her to be an easy terrible-two'er. She could hear the baby's cries had ceased shortly after 'the monster' had left, and she was probably resting in her bed again. The woman carefully padded her blue eye, and tried to avoid the other. She recoiled and hissed whenever she was not careful enough with the fabric.

"Nic, come on out, let me do that for you hon."

Nicole sighed, and let her hands fall. She knew that Sarah was right. She had always been the one who was a great nurse, and surely knew what to do besides padding it with toilet paper, which was a crappy way of helping yourself already. Nicole threw the paper in the toilet, and watched the maelstrom destroy the soft paper.

Sarah knocked on the door again, and stepped back as she heard Nicole unlocking the door and stepping out. A flood of hate and bitterness washed away all other feelings when she saw the beautiful face turned into a mix of colors.

"How long have you been free?" Sarah asked, and carefully placed a warm hand on her sister's cheek. When the palm touched the cheek, Nicole let out a sigh of satisfaction.

"Not long. I drove to Miami first; I dared not go to Mobile, Birmingham or anything else. The farther away the better. I got on a plane two days ago, found the nearest rental car, and now I'm here. I'm finally here…"

Her head got heavier as she relaxed completely, and trusted Sarah enough to hold it. Sarah placed her other hand on the opposite cheek, and rested her forehead on Nicole's.

"I have waited for this so long Nic. It's amazing, you're finally here."

Sarah planted a tender kiss on her sisters forehead and cupped her face lovingly. It was only when the tears reached her lips she realized both of them were crying.

They were crying together, as they usually had when they were small. They cried for love, hate and agony. The sisterly love they had longed and missed, the hate they felt for the same man, and lastly, the agony the both had been through for so long. Both girls had escaped it for a certain amount of time, but one had been trapped in the evil circle again.

Her face and body was the proof.

"You remember when we did this back then?" Nicole mumbled and felt her sister nod.

"How can I forget it?", she replied, "You refused to go to sleep if we didn't sit like this, until you did fall asleep."

A weak and exhausted smile spread on Nicole's face. Sarah sighed heavily, and sniffled before pulling her head away.

"I gotta make dinner, but I'll find some antiseptic for that first. Just sit down in the living room; I'll get you beautiful again in no time."

Nicole nodded and wiped her eyes rather roughly, at least the blue one. She winced as she was too rough on the bruised eye, and pitifully tried to wink the other tears away in her right eye. It was painful to have the liquid sticking in her eye, and she found no way to get it out.

"_Nothing I can't stand…" _Nicole thought, and walked down to the living room.

The dog warily lifted his head, and just looked at her. When she noticed, she squealed in fear.

"Buddy, leave her _alone_!" Sarah yelled from the kitchen, and the dog, Nicole figured his name was Buddy, laid his head down again. But he kept on watching the guest, and never took his eyes off of her.

Nicole sat down on a large couch, with room for three people and all black. It was quite comfortable, and she remembered how she loathed the couch at her old home.

"_My old home…" _

For a minute, Nicole just sat there, and stared blankly into the wall. She was tossing and turning the sentence in her head, tasting it, and loving the meaning it held.

She heard Sarah rustling around in the kitchen, probably searching for some better than toilet paper. When she found it, she came in with a quick pace, and soaked the fabric in her hand.

"You know its gonna sting a little love, but just wait till I'm done alright?" Sarah asked her sister, who just nodded.

She usually hated it when Sarah had talked to her as if she was a child, as it truly made her feel like the younger one, and that she couldn't take care of herself. This time, she didn't mind.

Nicole winced when the wet fabric got in touch with her cheek, and she couldn't help but pull away. But she was a big girl, and leaned forward again.

"Good girl…" Sarah muttered, and more careful this time started to pad again. "Did you bring anything?"

Nicole didn't do anything, but when Sarah took her hand away, giving her room to breathe, she talked.

"Just mom's pendant, his money and my wedding ring." She couldn't help but get a little devilish smile on her broken face. "I'll get some good money for it."

Sarah returned the smile and started padding again.

Nicole took off the ring, and beheld it. It was a beautiful ring, and it had indeed cost Tom a lot of money. Even though the memories of bad outnumbered the good, she remembered when they had gone to the jewelry store, for a surprise.

* * *

"_Tom!" she giggled and held his hand tight. "Where are you taking me?" _

"_You'll find out soon enough Nic, calm down." He comforted, and carefully guided her inside a store. She got a little nervous when she heard the familiar pling when entering a store. But she couldn't help but being excited._

"_Alrighty, now you can see!" Tom said and dramatically removed the blindfold. Nicole let out a loud gasp, as she saw where she was. _

_The most expensive and prestige filled jewelry shop in town. It couldn't get any fancier than this. _

"_Now love, go pick one. As a gift." He said with a smile and nodded towards the glass containers, displaying the various gemstones of the world. There was rubies, amethysts, emeralds and of course a girl's best friend, the diamond. The male assistant stood with a smile plastered upon his face, clearly just seeing Nicole as another silly woman, who just received another glittering stone. _

"_Oh Tom, really?" she gasped, and overdosed the man with kisses all over his face. He nodded again with a big smile, and let his love having her go at it. With the smile equivalent of a child in a candy store, Nicole started to raid the store. She asked for every ring possible, until she found the one she wanted._

_The ring itself was silver, and on the middle, there were 2 lines of diamonds. First a sapphire diamond, a tiny pattern around it, then two lines on each side with three diamonds aligned next to each other, then another sapphire diamond, again a tiny pattern around it, another two lines with three diamonds, and a final sapphire diamond._

"_This one Tom!" she squealed, and showed it off on her slim index finger._

"_We'll take it, but let me have it for a second love." Tom gently said, and took it off her finger. Nicole smiled slightly, but her face turned into a happy shock when Tom got on his knees. _

_

* * *

_

Nicole sighed when she thought of it. At least it could pay for most of the daily things she'd use when staying with Sarah and Will. She knew that there was no way they'd accept it, but in this crisis, nobody could say no to some extra money.

"There, all done. Now just give it time, and it'll go away in a couple of days, maybe 2 weeks."

Nicole nodded and smiled gratefully. She held her sister tight, and squealed when she heard a loud bark from Buddy.

"Sorry, he only barks when Belle cries or a car pulls up. " Sarah said with an apologizing expression on her face. She remembered how Nicole hated dogs, and that Tom had gotten a German shepherd just to manage to scare even more.

"I suppose Will is home then." Nicole muttered, and tried to rise. Sarah pushed her down and sternly shook her head.

"No way missy. Stay here, and relax. Will is probably gonna be a little bit surprised to see you."

"I didn't think it was a problem me staying here." Nicole muttered and looked down.

She had forgotten how selfishly she had truly acted, just showing up and expecting to get shelter. But she didn't know where to go otherwise. Tom knew where her mother lived, not many hours away from where they resided. That would not have been safe for either of them, as he would've laid hands upon them both. Nicole had been wise to hide the address she had received from Sarah a couple of years before, and never showing it to him, leaving him without a clue where to search for her.

Sarah forced her sister's head up, and looked her straight in the eye.

"Nicole, where would you have gone if not here?" she asked, and patiently waiting for an answer, that never came.

"My point. _You are not a burden_." She insisted, and kissed her forehead, before winking at her. "Besides, Will is easy to maneuver around. You know how men are."

Nicole smiled weakly and nodded.

Buddy was scraping his paw against the front door as he longed to see his master. When Sarah opened the door, he flew out the door and attacked Will just as he got up on the porch, knocking the man down.

"Urgh! Hi Buddy!" he cheerfully exclaimed and tried to avoid the attack of the tongue. His head twisted and turned until Sarah managed to hold Buddy back with a grin.

"Hi love!" she said and his smirking face leaned in to give her a kiss, but she turned away.

"Not with all that slobber all over you! I prefer my kisses without dog saliva!"

"Aww, you're mean! Fine, just one on the cheek then." He smiled and pointed on his cheek. Sarah rolled her eyes, and give him a quick peck.

"Who's here? I don't recognize the car." He said, and eyed the vehicle. He looked over at his own truck, and nodded slightly. There was a low buzzing sound, and then silence again.

"A rental vehicle from 'Joe's best rentals', blue Ford Focus, rented by Nicole Workman."

"Who was the renter again 'Hide?" Will asked with shock in his voice and eyes. He looked at Sarah suspiciously.

"Nicole Workman I said." Ironhide gruffly said and revved his engine a little in annoyance.

"Is _Nicole_ here?" Will asked, and his mouth shaped a tiny 'o' in surprise.

"Tom beat her Will. She got here a couple of hours ago. You should see her, Belle _cried_ when she saw her."

Will's anger rose, and Ironhide sensed it immediately.

"Why is your anger rising so quickly Will?" he asked before getting on high alert. "Is there any Cons' around?"

"No Ironhide, that's not it." Will muttered with gritted teeth and clenched fists. "I will tell you another time."

"Very well, but don't hesitate to tell me if you spotted the coward." Ironhide responded, and relaxed.

"Will do 'Hide, thank you." Will muttered, and padded Buddy who was annoyed by not getting much attention.

"She's staying her for now, is it alright with you?" Sarah asked and grabbed Will's hands.

"Of course it is! Which man would not give his sister-in-law shelter when abused by her husband?" he asked and held his wife tight. "I'm so sorry…" he mumbled into her soft hair.

"I know, I am too."

Sarah sighed heavily and pulled away, grabbed Will's hand, whistled on Buddy and went inside again. Nicole jumped when the door slammed shut, and awkwardly stood up to greet the man of the house.

"Hi Will." She stuttered and stretched out her hand in a greeting. Will looked at Sarah over his shoulder with an eyebrow raised. She really looked awful. Her left eye was almost black, her lip was swollen, and so was most of her right eye. So badly, she could barely see out of it. It seemed that she was shivering, as her tiny frame seemed to never stop shaking.

"Hey Nic, it's nice to see you again!" he smiled, accepting the hand, and then pulling Nicole into a hug.

Nicole freaked.

It had all gone so fast, that it had reminded her of Tom's rough ways. The man before her was not the loving husband her sister had, but the abusive man that she had been married to. By reflex she placed her hands on his chest, and pushed him away with all her might. Will seemed startled, and widened his eyes at the woman. She had started to shiver, and sat down on the couch, while letting out small cries, and rocking back and forth. Sarah was immediately by her side, and cooed gently into her sister's hair.

"It's not your fault…" she mouthed to Will, who just nodded.

"What did he do to her?" he mouthed back in shock.

Sarah smacked her hands together, so Will would understand how Tom had punched her. Nicole instantly reacted, and winced loudly at the sound.

Will shock his head, and felt his anger rise again.

"_Anger is truly one letter short of danger…" _


	4. Chapter 3

Dinner was dead silent.

The only sound, was the gentle cooing coming from Annabelle, who enjoyed throwing the cut out pieces of her bun to Buddy, who enjoyed it more than her.

"Belle, it's not good for Buddy to have your food. He'll get sick in his little stomach." Sarah said, and patted the toddler's stomach, causing her to giggle.

"Mama, Buddy like sloppies!" the girl objected.

"Buddy like his own doggie treats. Now, go on with eating alright?"

"Yes mama."

"Good girl." Sarah praised with a smile.

She noticed that Nicole barely touched her food, just sticking at it with her fork, like a teenager. Sarah eyed Will, who looked at Nicole. Worry shone through the expression of their faces.

"Love, you not hungry?"

Nicole looked up from her food with a startled expression, then nodding.

"I'm starving, but it hurts to chew…"

It was so low, that neither Sarah or Will could hear her.

"I didn't hear you sweetie."

"I'm starving, but it hurts to chew." She said a little louder this time. "Hurts to talk too…"

The couple eyed each other nervously.

"Maybe your jaw is broken, I'll take you to the doctor at the base tomorrow if you'll like."

Sarah smiled at her husband and looked at Nicole.

"We got to see if your jaw is broken hun, it's no good if you try to chew food with such a injury." Sarah added.

Nicole shrugged, and the two of them took it as a yes.

"Is there anything out in your rental?" Will asked and took a big bite out of the sloppy Joe.

"Will, your manners love." Sarah gently corrected him. He smiled and grabbed the napkin that laid on his lap.

Nicole shook her head.

"Tom's ring is still on my finger, mother's pendant is in my purse, and so is his money." She muttered and took a tiny bite of sloppy Joe on her fork. She never chewed it, but just swallowed it.

"I'll take it as a no." Will smiled, and continued to munch on his dinner.

"So, how're we're gonna do this? We have three cars…" Sarah mumbled, and started thinking.

"I take the rental, you drop Annabelle off, we follow Will to the base, and you drive me home again."

The answer came as quickly as the question had been asked, and it didn't surprise Sarah that Nicole was able to do that. She had always been quite the mathematician, and was the indeed the clever one.

"Yeah, that's the best way." Will said and leaned back with a loud sigh. "Thank you for dinner, it was delicious as always."

"It's nothing dear, it's just a sloppy Joe."

Suddenly, Annabelle got a shocked expression on her angelic face.

"We eating Joe?" she exclaimed and seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"Oh no my angel, it's just a name. We're eating a burger, but we call it a sloppy Joe."

Annabelle looked at the leftover sloppy Joe in front of her, and then smiled widely.

Nicole looked around and noticed that everyone was done. So she thanked for dinner, rose, and politely took everything off the table before placing it in the dishwasher. She didn't even realize, that she was doing the exact same thing as when she was with Tom. Sarah was astonished, and got up.

"Hey hey, Nic, don't worry about it. I got it. You don't have to do this."

Nicole looked very confused, and got wide eyes.

"But, it's what I always do." She objected, and Sarah was surprised to see that she didn't realize she didn't have to do it anymore.

"I know, but that's what you _did_. It's a past tense." Sarah explained, and carefully placed an arm on her sister's shoulder. "It's not your responsibility anymore."

"It's not?" Nicole mumbled and looked at her sister with tears in her eyes.

"No love. It's time for us all to relax." Sarah smiled and led her towards the couch. "You can even decide what movie we can watch, if you'd like."

Nicole seemed to be surprised that she had something to say for once.

"Well, is Annabelle gonna watch with us?" she asked.

"No, Will is about to lay her to bed, so it's just us grown-ups."

Nicole nodded and looked at the display of DVDs. She had never seen so many DVD's before and it was strange to feel that she had the power to choose.

It was a good feeling.

"Well, you like Titanic, so why don't we watch that?"

Sarah smiled and shook her head.

"I do like Titanic, but what do you like?"

"I like Titanic…" she mumbled and proceeded to take the DVD off the shelf. Sarah's hand gently took the movie from her.

"You like it because I like it. Now seriously Nic. _What do you want to watch_?"

Nicole had to ponder over that question for awhile, looking over the other DVD's. To her, what was going on right now, was more than just picking out a movie for the night. This was for the first time in six years, that she had something to say, and could do what she wanted to do.

It was almost too much for her.

But when she finally found the movie she wanted to see, the feeling that she had decided what they would watch, made her heart flutter.

"Can we watch this one?" Nicole asked, and held up what Sarah did recall was her favorite movie, '10 Things I Hate About You'.

Sarah was still unsure if she actually did loved that movie, since she remembered it was the movie she and Will saw the on their first date. But she let it go, as Nicole seemed to get more upset by the minute.

"Sure we can love, go ahead. You want some popcorn?"

Nicole nodded, and once more, got up to fetch the popcorns herself. But Sarah gently pushed her sister down.

"Not your business, you already took off the table. My turn to do something!" she cheerfully said, and returned to the kitchen, meeting Will in there.

"You wanna join us in the movie?" Sarah asked and smiled when he kissed her on the forehead. She struggled to reach the top cabinet.

"What we watching?" he asked and easily opened the cabinet she couldn't, and handed her the pack of popcorn.

"10 Things I Hate About You." She tossed the pack inside the microwave. "You remember?"

At first, Will seemed totally confused. But then as if someone turned on a light bulb inside his mind, he lit up in a wide smile.

"We went to the movies for the first time together and saw it. Second best day of my life." He grinned. "Wait, no. The third best day!"

Sarah laughed.

"I have never met a man who kept track of the best days of his life."

"Baby, do I seem like _any_ man?" he teased.

Sarah laughed again, and raised an eyebrow.

"Of course not love."

The couple's face got closer, and they shared a kiss. Each time they both kissed as such, there was something both of them felt. Neither of them could describe it, only the tingles could.

Sarah squealed when the microwave pinged loudly, indicating that it was done popping.

"You're bad!" she teased and again struggled to get a bowl out of the top cabinet. She sighed, and looked at Will, who was smirking.

"Please?" she asked and pouted. Will sighed, but was still having the smirk on his face when he grabbed a large green bowl out of the cabinet. Sarah stuck her tongue out at him, but kissed him again, before she walked back into the living room.

She was shocked to see Nicole crying.

"Nic, what's wrong love!" she dropped the popcorn bowl on the floor, and rushed to her side.

"He'll find me. He won't give up. He got contacts. He'll beat me for being unruly. I don't wanna be in pain anymore! Leave me alone, I do everything you say, why you have to beat me!" she whined, and rocked back and forth, while crying.

Will had rushed in, and was shocked to see the girl crying again. He had heart her cry, and slowly, very slowly he approached her. She shook even more when she saw the male face before her, and pulled away from him.

"Please, go away. I haven't done anything." She whined.

"Will, what are you doing?" Sarah hissed, afraid that Nicole might injure herself even more.

"Listen Nicole. If he comes here, he'll look even worse than you do. I'll never let anyone touch you like that again. Don't be afraid okay? You're _safe_."

Will was unsure if he was truly getting through to her, but Nicole did calm down, and her whining got noticeably quieter. Sarah continued to rock her sister back and forth on the couch, until she was so exhausted from crying and whining, the she fell asleep. Sarah dared not to leave her sister in such a condition. She carefully snuck down from the couch, and found a pillow for Nicole to rest on.

"Will, find the spare mattress and two covers. I can't leave her like this." She mumbled. Will had been staying too, as he was just as concerned for Nicole as his wife was.

It was not always true, that the relationship between in-laws was horrible.

Will thought of himself to be one of those rare men who enjoyed the company of his in-laws.

Sarah and Nicole's mother, Janine, was about the sweetest woman Will had ever encountered. Both of her daughters were much similar to her, always treating other with kindness, no matter how bad themselves fared. But it was clear, that Sarah and Janine dealt better with the troubles of the past than Nicole did. Will only hoped that she would deal better with it in the upcoming future.

He silently went upstairs, into the guest room and grabbed the mattress and covers that was in the closet. He grunted as he struggled to get the mattress downstairs, alongside with the cover he held in his hands.

Sarah silently got up, and helped him place the mattress on the floor. Nicole turned slightly in her sleep, and moaned something that neither of them could understand, so they just continued onwards with preparing Sarah's bed. When Sarah's bed was ready, she carefully tried to wake Nicole up. She couldn't sleep with the only outfit she had.

"Go up and find some of my night gowns. Just anything." She hissed. Sarah didn't want to see what was underneath her clothing.

"Don't hiss at me woman." Will retorted in a jokingly manner, before making his way upstairs again.

"Hey, Nic, wake up. You got to sleep in something else 'kay? Help me out here girl." Sarah gently said, and carefully shook the petite frame.

Nicole reluctantly woke up, barely able to keep her eyes open. She lifted her arms so Sara could pull off her hoodie. She had turned her back to Sarah, and when the hoodie was off, her sister struggled to hide a gasp.

On her back, was old blood, dried unto her back. There was bruises and wounds, some newly getting crusts on them, while some had reacted to the movement the hoodie had made when thrown off, and was slowly bleeding. There was only one large gash, about the size of her hand, and it was luckily, one of the ones getting crust on them. Smaller ones were fresher than that, and had a larger chance of bleeding, which it had started to do, due to the removal of the hoddie. For who knows what time, Sarah's anger rose again.

She heard the clothes that Will was carrying hit the ground, and turned around with tears in her eyes. Nicole had surrendered to sleep again, leaning her right back onto the back pillows of the couch.

"I can barely watch it without getting furious." Sarah mumbled as Will held her tight. He slowly stroked her hair, and couldn't get the eye of the scarred back.

"Me neither, but it is good that she gets to see Ratchet tomorrow. You sure you wanna sleep down here, I can watch her."

Sarah shook her head, and moved it again to get comfortable on his chest.

"It'll just freak her out." She mumbled. "I'll stay, I just got to have a minute."

"Alright babe, you're the greatest. I'm glad she came." Will replied, and kissed her blonde hair.

"I can only imagine what he did." She said, and shuttered. "I wish we could track his ass down, and beat him up good."

"Me too. But we have to get her to sleep. She need to rest. We just gotta be careful that she doesn't get bed sores."

"I know, but you're so comfy." She giggled, but then got serious again. "Alright, I'll get to it. Go back to bed."

"You sure you can?" Will asked, and raised an eyebrow at her.

"I have to be." She stuttered, and kissed him like they had earlier in the kitchen.

Same old tinkles.

When Will had gone up to his bed, Sarah struggled to get the shirt on Nicole. She woke her up again, and she couldn't help but giggle when she noticed her sister still got grumpy when you woke her up. She struggled to get her jeans off, and she was shocked the see even her legs were beaten. Almost her entire left thigh was bruised, and she hoped that Ratchet could do something for her.

When the loose clothing had been placed on Nicole, Sarah finally laid on her improvised bed. She fondly remembered that she and Will had laid the exact same way when they moved in, on a mattress, just enjoying the company of each other.

Sarah took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

This much drama hadn't happened since she by accident had said Ironhide's butt was big.

She snickered slightly to herself. Nah, it wasn't by accident.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 

Throughout the night, it was hard for Sarah to get some rest. It was obviously no secret that Nicole suffered from nightmares. Even in her sleep, Sarah could hear Nicole begging for mercy at Tom's feet, and it affected her own dreams.

She even dreamt that the two sisters had been locked up together with both Tom and her father, where both of them enjoyed seeing the red liquid flow from their petite bodies.

Sarah woke up drenched in cold sweat and loss of breath many times. She had never rested so horribly before, not even after Mission City. Surely, nightmares had been haunting both her and her spouse for some time after that, but they knew that time healed all wounds. At least most of them.

When morning came, Nicole was the first one to stir.

Her back ached terribly, and after she twisted and turn herself, she figured it was because of the wounds. She carefully rubbed her back, and winced when she touched a tender spot. Slowly she tried to get herself up, but with bruised legs, it was hard to do so without help. She looked around to see if there was a clock that showed what time it is. The familiar red button on the DVD machine showed 6:30 A.M. She supposed it was a suitable time to rise and shine, and that Annabelle probably was going to kinder garden at that time. So with a few painful grunts, she stood.

Buddy yawned loudly as the woman stood, and with a wagging tail he approached her. Nicole froze, as the beast stood before her, clearly demanding attention.

"Hello doggie, w-w-wha-what do you want?" she stuttered, and carefully let her hand touch Buddy's head. The dog happily let the insecure woman pat him, and to show his gratitude, his tongue went all over her hand. Nicole squealed when she felt her hand turn wet, and quickly pulled it away. Her squeal was loud enough so Sarah woke up with a startled expression on her face.

"Nic, you already up? I'm sorry, I didn't sleep very well." Sarah mumbled and shooed Buddy away.

_Shit, I knew he would've said hey to her sooner or later. Suppose its progress, she actually patted him this time._

"I just got up. It took me forever to stand by myself." Nicole said and with small steps, she struggled to make her way towards the kitchen. "I'll make breakfast, what you want? I can make eggs, just how you like them, bacon, cereal, oatmeal, you name it!"

"No no no missy, get back on that couch!" Sarah hissed in fear of her sister falling, hurting herself even more. "Sit down!"

"But I'd like to make all of you breakfast." Nicole pouted and heavily flopped down on a nearby chair in the kitchen.

"I know, but it'd be better if you didn't. We saw your bruises yesterday, how would you be able to do that with them anyway?"

Nicole knew that she wouldn't be able to, as she was most likely to collapse. She had hidden her legs for that reason, that they were not strong enough to hold her skinny body up. But she hated more than anything, that she was the vulnerable one.

"Just let me take care of it alright?" Sarah said with a smile, and started cooking breakfast.

Much time didn't have to go by before Will came down with a starving expression on his face, as the aroma had little trouble getting around in the house.

"Nom! What we having?" he cheerfully said, and kissed Sarah on her cheek.

"Breakfast love. It's what you get in the mornings." She said with a smile.

Will rolled his eyes, and sat next to Nicole. She didn't say anything, but by instinct, she pushed her chair farther back.

"Morning Nicole, did you sleep good?" Will asked, and smiled at her.

He couldn't help it, but he felt like he was talking to a child, as if he was talking to his daughter, softly and gently to make sure she'd understand.

Nicole nodded.

"You know we're taking you to the doctor today right? He's the doctor at my base, and he's a very good one."

"What's his name?"

"A. Chet, Andrew Chet. "

"He's a great doctor Nic, he'll treat you right. Don't worry."

Nicole nodded again, and a very small smile spread on her face. But inside, her fear of another man was strong.

"Isn't there any female doctors around?" she mumbled.

Will and Sarah looked at each other, as they knew that this would come up. It was hard not to blame her for it, and it was surprising that she had been dealing so well with Will, after barely one day. Of course, he was not allowed to touch her.

"Sorry love, but Rat-"

"_Andrew!_" Will quickly said, and smiled. "Is the best doctor around."

Sarah didn't notice her mistake until Will corrected her, but then nodded vigorously. Nicole just shrugged, and like yesterday's dinner, she just poked at her food that Sarah had placed in front of her. Will rubbed his hands with a wide smile on his face and dug in, while Sarah went upstairs to dress and feed Annabelle.

"Momma, we going kinder garden?" Annabelle asked as she chewed on some small pieces of egg, and losing them again while talking.

"Yep, I'll take you there, and then I'll come and pick you up later. Maybe Bumble will pick you up!" Sarah cheerfully said and patted the little toddler on her head.

"Bumble might see me! But Hidey?"

Sarah bit down on her lip, as she realized what had she had said. Luckily, Nicole was too occupied to try and chew some of her food.

"Nic, I think it'd be best I we just took your rental, and then get someone at the base to take us home."

"Whatever you say Sarah."

Sarah nodded with a hint of satisfaction, and took the dishes out. She smiled at Buddy who scratched on her leg in order to see if he could get a snack. The woman shook her head, and threw a piece of scrambled egg, which he caught with perfection.

"Good boy!" Sarah praised and put everything in the dishwasher. "Will, get yourself and Belle dressed. We're leaving in 10."

Will nodded with a big smile, and he playfully picked Annabelle up from her chair.

"You ready to go flying upstairs!" he squealed and tickled the girl, causing her to squeal with him.

"I fly momma! Look at me!" the toddler squealed before disappearing with her dad upstairs.

Sarah waved the best things in her life goodbye, and turned to face Nicole. Her sister looked upset, and water was gathering in her eyes.

"What's wrong Nic?" Sarah gently asked and sat next to her sister.

"I always hoped me and Tom could be like you and Will. We would have a lovely home like yours, and a adorable child like yours." She looked at her sister. "A life like yours."

Sarah sighed heavily. She understood her sister's point, but in a way, she loathed it.

_A life like ours. Sister, if you only knew. _

"I know darling. Things never turn out the way you wanted them to. Now, I think it's best if you stay in these clothes, or your wounds might open again."

Nicole nodded, and with an annoying movement of her hand, she wiped her tears away. She struggled to get up, but with the help of Sarah, she made it up. With thundering steps, Annabelle and Will came down, both of them dressed appropriately for where they were going.

"Can I ride with daddy?" Belle asked with a wide smile on her face as they had gotten outside their house. The snow crunched under their feet, and Annabelle giggled as she kicked it up. The winter sun was bright, but not so it was unbearable.

The truck seemed to wriggle in delight as it heard the toddlers voice, and the two adults looked at each other.

"Sure, why not?" Will asked and opened the back door, and fastened her to the child seat. "I'll drop you off at the kinder garden, then I'll go to the base."

He shut the door, and smiled when Annabelle breathed on the window, then making a small heart and a smiley face. Sarah and Will smiled happily as they embraced each other, and shared a passionate kiss.

"I'll miss you." Will mumbled and nudged her nose. Sarah giggled.

Nicole couldn't help but snicker as she saw the face Annabelle was making behind the car window. Sarah heard her sister laugh, and snuck out of Will's greedy grip and lips to see what was so funny. She couldn't help but laugh and help a hand up to cover her face, and pointed towards the large truck. Will turned his face around, and grinned before making a massive smooch face and charging the truck. Annabelle squealed as the pair of lips melted together with the window in front of her.

"Get movin' Will, otherwise she'll be late." Sarah gently scolded before getting in the front seat of the car. "We'll drop her off at the kinder garden, then meet you at the rental place alright?"

Nicole nodded, and waved slightly as Will got out of the driveway, and loudly honked the horn as they drove away. She sighed heavily, before carefully getting herself inside the rental, and driving into town.

It didn't take her long to find the rental she had showed up at yesterday. The familiar pling rung in her ears when you entered a store. For her own sake, and the elder receptionist standing behind the desk, she kept the sunglasses on.

"Hello miss, can I help you?" the woman said with a cheerful smile and paid total attention to Nicole.

"I think so. I came in here yesterday renting one of your cars. I am done with it, and I wish to return it."

"Why certainly my dear. What is your name and number of the rental?"

Nicole fumbled to find the papers that followed with the car. She let out a sigh of relief when she found it, and handed the papers over.

"Ah, there you go."

The woman scouted the papers with a trained eye, and with a couple of swirly signatures on some other papers, she smiled.

"There you go love, thanks for renting a car with us. Was there any complains about the vehicles condition?"

"No ma'am, it was fine with me."

"Excellent. Then you're free to go."

"Thank you." Nicole said and left.

The woman wondered why the customer had been wearing sunglasses inside, but she seemed more normal than so many others that showed up in her business, so she paid it no mind.

After leaving the store, Nicole stood outside and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

She was leaning on the hood of the car she had rented, and was feeling kind of chilly. She hadn't expected her sister to be this late, and her clothing wasn't exactly made for the winter. Nicole shivered, and turned around.

A sigh of relief escaped her lips when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"There you are, I've been wait-"

"Give me your money without a word!"

The man before her had his face covered with one of the mask she recognized from movies. It was for his own protection, thus nobody could see who had committed the crime. She gasped as she saw the knife in his hands.

"I-I-I ha-ha-have no mo-mo-mone-money…" she stuttered and put up her arms in surrender.

"Quit lying bitch!" he sneered and roughly started to run his hands all over Nicole's body. She shivered, and tried to hold back a wince when he was getting too rough. What she got was a smack in the face.

Her sunglasses got off in the process.

"What the hell happened to you!" the man exclaimed and backed away when he saw her bruised face. Nicole said nothing, but just looked down in the ground and took her hand up to her throbbing cheek. He seemed to be ready to run for it, when he bumped into someone.

Before him stood a very pissed off military man, gritting his teeth in anger.

"What's wrong with you asshole?" he sneered and watched the man stumbling to get up on his feet, running in the opposite direction.

"That's what you get for threatening my sister you ass!" Sarah sneered, and managed to get a tight hold of the man's collar.

However, as many thieves are, he was a dumb one. Without thinking, he punched Sarah in the stomach, forcing her to double over, and letting go of his collar. When Sarah fell to the ground in pain and loss of breath, Will pounced at the man like a cat getting its prey.

"You are more stupid than I thought!" he sneered, and jumped on the man's back.

Will was a military man, and even though how badly he wished to beat the guy up good, he knew that it would be better and just hand him over to the police. He held the man down, and looked over his shoulder to see that Sarah was alright.

Nicole wasn't.

Sarah was holding her sister tight, who loudly was sobbing and shaking like there was no tomorrow. Cries for mercy and help was hard not to hear, and a tiny crowd had started to shape around her and Will.

"Don't just stand there people! Get a hold of the police!" he yelled, and startled several of the people around them.

"Yes, of course!" a man said, and quickly dialed the number, proceeding to tell the police how they should hurry down, in order to get a man arrested for assault and attempted robbery.

Will got close to the attacker's ear, and hissed:  
"You should know, that she have been abused by her husband for _six years. Six motherfucking years,_ and now you come and mess her up again."

The man seemed to shiver as he heard the rage in Will's voice.

"Now, was it not because of the fact that I know that I'd have to deal with the consequences of beating you up, I would have. Right here and now, and you would have _lost_."

The police arrived after 15 minutes of intense waiting. Nicole had not stopped to weep and cry for help, even with Sarah trying her best to comfort her. Will had not moved out of his spot, and continued to hold the attacker tightly down to the ground. He watched with satisfaction as the police took the man away, and then hurried to Sarah's side.

Instinctively he reached out to pad Nicole's shoulder to comfort her, but the woman hissed and backed away from him.

"We gotta get her to Ratchet." Sarah mumbled as she turned her head to face Will. He nodded.

"How?" he asked, and wondered how he ever could manage to get Nicole inside his truck, with him driving.

"I don't know, we just gotta get her inside Ironhide, then everything will be fine from there."

Will nodded again, and proceeded to walk towards his truck, opening the doors and stepping in.

"What is going on with the femme? I am no medic, but even I can tell that she is clearly upset, and her heart rate is thundering to high numbers."

"She is in shock 'Hide, we have to get her to Ratchet."

"What did the man do to her?" the vehicle asked with curiosity in his voice.

Will sighed.

"He threatened her. It doesn't help that she just got her freedom back from six years of abuse from the one she should trust the most."

"It sounds like something a Decepticon would do." Ironhide sneered. " Treating their sparkmate as if they were pieces of scrap metal."

"That is what he thought of her. Scrap metal 'Hide. It's the reason she is so upset. She is scared. She fears men."

Ironhide was rarely one to feel pity, but this time, the specialist did so.

"Because of her abusing sparkmate?"

Will nodded.

"It angers my spark. Betrayed by the one femmes should be able to trust the most."

The human could almost feel the rage building from the weapon specialist, and he padded the dashboard in an attempt to calm him down.

"Calm down you, we'll fix her. She just needs time." Will said as he saw how the two women slowly made their way towards the black truck.

"Now, please, be careful when you take us to the base. And _please,_ tell the others to be careful."

"Yes Major." Ironhide answered.

Sarah gently guided Nicole inside the truck, who was shivering as never before. She leaned herself on Sarah's shoulder. Ironically, Ironhide put on a song.

_Lean on me, when you're not strong  
And I'll be your friend  
I'll help you carry on_


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 6

After Nicole had fallen asleep from shock and what seemed to be exhaustion, they had left for the base.

The man that had called the police earlier, had on Wills request told what had happened, giving him the necessary details to tell the officer.

He was happy to oblige, and told the officer exactly what Will had told him. He said nothing more, and nothing less.

While they made their way towards the base, even in her sleep, Nicole shivered and shook as if she had fallen into ice water.

Ironhide was clearly doing the best he could to get there as fast as possible, and was it not because both of the awake humans knew that he drove better than the two of them, they would call him a mad driver.

Will and Ironhide cursed the long distance to and from base, as it was one hour from their home, and a slight detour coming from town. But with the speed Ironhide was maintaining, and skillfully dodging every car that he met in the city.

Sarah wasn't really used to his rough driving, so when she was certain she'd poorly try to hold back a squeal of fear.

Ironhide sensed the femme's fear, and a gruff was heard from the speakers.

"Don't fear Sarah."

Sarah bit her teeth.

"I am not scared. It's Nicole."

Will looked over his shoulder, and smirked at Sarah. His wife stuck out her tongue, and crossed her arms in defeat, before roughly gripping the car seat in front of her when Ironhide made a sharp turn.

She felt her stomach turn slightly, but she was a big girl.

Or so she thought.

When they finally arrived at the base, which she had gotten to know fairly well, she rushed for the ladies bathroom.

One more thing she disliked about 'Hide, besides his massive ass, was the way he drove.

The toilet water's splashing echoed throughout the toilet as the vomit hit it. After several years of partying before finally settling down with Will, this had been usual Saturday and Sunday morning business; kissing the shitter good morning.

After those years of practice, her hair barely managed to get some of the nasty liquid stuck. She praised herself when she rose again to find no nasty leftovers in it. She flushed the toilet before splashing some cool water in her face, and gasping when the cool liquid struck her face.

Sarah rushed back to Ironhide, who was stilling parked in the massive hall, and figured that Nicole was still resting. Will stood outside the truck, and patiently waited for Sarah's return. She looked furious, and he had a apologizing look on his face.

"Sorry love, we had to hurry."

Sarah just let out a exhausted smile, and reminded to put out a comment about Hide's ass later that day.

_No one shall ever make me vomit unless I am hung over. _

"I apologize Sarah, but as Will said, time was short and speed was urgent."

"No worries 'Hide. Just be glad I didn't vomit inside of you." She hissed, and walked towards the back seats to wake Nicole up. Even after the harsh ride, she was still resting, but not peacefully.

She still shook as if drowned.

"'Hide, can you please get a hold of Ratchet?" Will asked and patted the truck on the hood.

"Certainly."

_Ratchet, we need you._

_What now Ironhide?_

Even if he was grumpy as always, Ratchet could sense the urgency flowing from Ironhide.

_We have a very injured femme, can you take care of her? She is Will's sister-in-law, Sarah's sister._

_Yes, indeed. Just send them to my medical bay. Thank Primus that we have our holoforms fixed._

Ironhide snorted.

"He can take her now."

"'Hide, do me a favor and drive us there. I can't carry her for so long, and she doesn't like men."

"So I've heard…" Ironhide commented, and shut his doors when Sarah stepped in without Will.

Will was at work now, and he had to deal with this situation later. Sarah reached her hand out of the window, and he fondly kissed it.

"I'll check on her later." He smiled and winked at her, before turning serious. "Is this a secret?"

Sarah nodded, and withdrew her hand with a smile before Ironhide drove off.

"Please tell the others that if she wakes up, turn on their holoforms, you included."

Ironhide revved his engine in a yes, and honked his horn loudly when he saw Ratchet standing in front of his medical bay, with his holoform on.

For mechanical beings, Sarah found them attractive.

Not in an 'I'd cheat on the love of my life' way, but they were indeed handsome men.

Ironhide carefully stopped, and opened the door closest to where the two women was placed. He quickly turned on his own holoform in order to help them.

"Here, let me take her" Ironhide said with his deep voice. Sarah shook her head, and clumsily got out of the vehicle.

"No way, if she wakes up and sees you, she'll freak." The woman shrugged. "Sorry 'Hide, but she will hurt herself more than she already has."

"But you cannot carry her all the way!" the mech objected, and stubbornly began walking next to Sarah. It was clear that she struggled to hold her sister steady, but as most people around her, she was stubborn.

"I sure as hell can!" she snapped back, and grunted slightly when she stopped to get a better hold of her resting sister. Nicole was resting rather calmly, but that didn't meant that she wasn't heavy.

But if Sarah remembered correct, her sister was a lot lighter than the last time she carried her. She had noticed that she was surprisingly, yet not surprisingly, skinny, and several of her bones were visible around her fragile body.

"Please Sarah, let me take her." Ironhide pleaded. "You are strong for a human femme, but you cannot carry her for so long."

"I can too Ironhide, we're almost there. Hi Ratch!" Sarah hissed, before she greeted Ratchet who had come towards them.

"Hello Sarah, who is our patient, and why is it so urgent?" Ratchet asked with the usual politeness in his voice, but the grumpy was hard not to hear.

"My sister Nicole, and because she's in a bad condition." Sarah snapped. "Why else would she be here?"

"I do not know, there would be no reason for her to be here if she was not ill." Ratchet dryly commented. "But let's not waste time on talking, please, hurry inside the bay."

Sarah nodded, and grunted again to get a better hold of Nicole, followed closely by the two mechs.

"What exactly happened to her Sarah? I could treat her better if I knew about her background." Ratchet asked as they with swift footsteps made their way to the bay.

Sarah sighed heavily, and a massive knot suddenly took shape in her stomach.

Nicole had known that she hated Tom from the very beginning, and had been certain that this was exactly what would happen. It had just been a matter of time before her shy sister had managed to break out from her hard shell.

A matter of six agonizing years.

"She have been married to a man." She started, and began to shake. It seemed tempting to ask Ironhide to carry Nicole for the short way there, but if she woke up, who knew how she would react. Sarah sucked it up, as she had gotten used to after her rough childhood.

"Who beat her, bad. She came to our house yesterday, and her face was like this." She nodded towards the blue and purple face. "She got problems chewing, so she might hurt her jaw, her legs are blue from punches, and there are some gashes on her back that is bleeding again."

The woman could almost hear the mechs grinding their fake teeth in rage. She felt relieved and happy, but yet felt bad, that the Autobots was enraged by Tom's doings. Tom was an obsessive and anger issued man. She was sure that he would use all means to find her.

But by then, she'd have backup.

A couple of pissed off killing machines, each one more dangerous than the other.

Not to mention a few humans with connections.

"Please, put her on the medical bed." Ratchet mumbled, and nodded with approval as Sarah carefully placed her sister upon the assigned bed.

The medic carefully stripped the woman that laid before him, leaving only her under garment left for her to wear. He knew well that humans, especially not females, liked to be examined in the nude. Ratchet found it silly, as it was only in their best interest that they had lost their clothing.

That only added to Ratchet's wonderings about the strange humans.

"Can the two of you please leave so I can work in peace? I would rather not be distracted." Ratchet said, and nodded towards the exit, before looking at Sarah. "Unless it is an issue for Nicole's wellbeing. It seems her mental state is not the best either. Is that correct?"

Sarah nodded, and hoped that the knot in her stomach would go away.

"Yes sir. She fears humans and canines more than anything. I would prefer if I could sit in the corner, and wait for her to awake, then explain where she is and why."

Ratchet found that explanation sufficient, and nodded in agreement.

"That would be the best indeed. Please, rest on the other bench if you wish." Ratchet said with a faint smile, and then sternly looked towards Ironhide. "But you mister mech, have no reason to stay. Shoo!"

Ironhide scoffed and crossed his arms.

"What if I am worried too? Do I not have a right to stay?"

Ratchet rolled his eyes.

"Unless you are related to this woman in any other way than the short time she rode in you with William and Sarah then no."

The doc's eyes widened for a second.

_There is nothing going on right!_

Ironhide's expression luckily remained the same on the outside, but Ratchet felt the surprise emit from the bond they shared.

_NO Ratchet, how can you think of me in such way? _

_How can I not?_

Ratchet mentally snickered, and closed the link. Now it was Ironhide's turn to roll his eyes, and he left the medical room cursing in Cybertronian.

Sarah couldn't help but overhear the strange language, and she found it even stranger when he spoke a foreign language in a human body.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked with a yawn, and looked at her watch.

11:12 AM

"He's just glitchin' slightly. No big deal. Now, please rest, and leave me be."

"Gosh, you are more dramatic than high school kids." Sarah mumbled, and turned around to sleep a little.

Ratchet had seen bad cases of injury during his time on planet Earth, both in war and in other cases.

This one was almost for the war category.

* * *

I'M BAAAAACK!

After a massive music festival, with good music (PARAMORE, GORILLAZ, MUSE, DIZZY MIZZ LIZZY, PRINCE! AND MORE) and good company, I'm ready to write! Hope you enjoyed this chappie, more to come! R & R!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

Few parts of the woman's body had the usual white color she would have had normally. Part of her torso, legs and face were white, but the rest was a mix of various colors. Her chest was the part where the color was the lightest, indicating that the abuse on that area had not been as rough as the rest. Worst area was her face, with small and large bruises covering it.

Ratchet concluded that most of the bruising would go away by itself, as bruises were simple muscle fibers and connective tissue underneath it, are crushed without the skin breaking, and when this happens, blood from the ruptured capillaries that's near the skins surface escapes by leaking out under the skin. Thus, the blood have nowhere to go, it gets trapped and forms a red or purple mark.

But the wounds on her back, would not go away easily. They were not simple bruises, but more complicated wounds. The ones who seemed to be fresh, and were able to burst any second, would need to be bandaged until they had received the crust on them. The others would, as the bruises, just need time to heal. Yet the largest wound on her back, that he was not sure how had been created, needed to be treated different. It was a long cut, not very wide, yet wide enough for it to require stitching. The dried blood around it made it clear that it was not an old wound, approximately a day, max. two. Therefore, he had to work fast in order to avoid infection of the wound.

A quick scan confirmed all that he had seen with the bare optic, but when the scan was over, he noticed that her jaw was injured a well. It was not broken, nor out of place, but merely a bit bruised.

_As the rest of her_, Ratchet bitterly thought, and accessed some basic information about the woman before him, in order to make the journal he always made for each patient. For some reason, he was sure that this wasn't the last time he would see this woman.

'Several bruises showing signs of severe beating. Bruises covering almost entire body, with focus on legs and face. Slim, but long cut on back needs immediate stitching.'

The mech made sure that the woman was sedated enough so she would not awaken nor feel anything before he started to search his medical room for needle and thread. He knew his room so well that it didn't take him long to find it, and without further ado, he began.

It was a minor challenge for Ratchet to stitch fleshlings up as he did nowadays. There was not much of sewing on Cybertron, but more melting metal and adjusting wires in order to keep a Cybertronian's circuits working correctly. But with the World Wide Web at his disposal, it was easy to find a few tips and tricks on how to stitch a wound properly. With a massive processor that came with his spark, Ratchet and all the rest of the Autobots were fast learners. Several other examples of this showed with the other Autobots, learning and skillfully adapting into the human world.

"In one way, out the other…" Ratchet mumbled to himself, and strangely found it to be relaxing work. It didn't take him long, and when Sarah began to stir, he was finished.

"You haven't slept for long Sarah," he commented, and threw out the needle he used to stitch Nicole's wound, "you sure you are rested properly?"

Sarah nodded absently, and stretched her arms with a loud yawn.

"I can sleep later," she replied, and got up, seeming to be a little startled to see her sister laying back-up on the berth, "you fixed her?"

Ratchet's holoform sighed before replying.

"Her body I fixed, but I can't fix minds. I'm not a psychologist."

Sarah grinned at the image she received, Ratchet sitting in a large chair, with his poor patient on a chaise long, trying to deal with the grumpy psychologist.

"But you are indeed a wonderful doctor." Sarah praised and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Ratchet let out a wry smile.

"I try."

"So, what do I have to do?"

Ratchet looked at her with a surprised look in his what seemed to be eyes.

"Nothing. I expect her to stay the night, so I can watch over her," he scoffed slightly, "she looks as if she came fresh from the battlefield."

Sarah sighed heavily.

"A different kind of battlefield Ratch." She answered, and Ratchet noticed how her usually great posture, changed, as if the loads of the entire world had been put on her shoulders.

"I am not sure I understand," he stated, and eyed her with some concern, "is there more battlefields than the one my comrades and I face?"

"Depends on how you look at it."

"How _do_ you look at it?"

Sarah sighed again, and gently traced the stitched wound on her sister's back before facing Ratchet.

"Ratchet, when two Cybertronians love each other, and become sparkmates, how do you treat each other?"

The surprise showed clearly in Ratchet's eyes when he heard the question.

"We treat each other with respect," he stated, as if it was the most obvious and right thing to do, "and with love. We treat each other right."

"I suspected as much," Sarah said with a small smile, "what if you treat them bad though? Abuse them?"

"Abuse? _Hurting _a sparkmate? My dear friend, is your organic processor glitching? Surely, you should never abuse a sparkmate. Such a relationship is not meant for hurt, not of any kind."

"I agree Ratchet. But that is what happened to my poor sister." Sarah mumbled and looked down on the cold, white medical floor.

"Abused! By her _sparkmate_?" Ratchet asked with his mouth wide open.

The woman nodded, and tried to hold back the tears.

"But, why? I don't see a reason why that should happen."

"I don't know Ratchet! He was just a sicko, who liked to see her blood flow, and see the agony he kept her in! He _loved_ to see her suffer," she hissed, and regretted how her tone was, before changing it, "there are just some men, and women as well, who like to do such things."

"I still see no reason. Do they not know that it is wrong?"

"Of course they do Ratchet, but they prefer seeing their sick mind games going on, rather than doing what is right."

Ratchet shook the head of his human appearance.

"I have never heard of such a thing on Cybertron. At least not for the Autobots. I am unsure if the Decepticons could do such a thing, but it does sound like it. It angers my spark."

"That's the same thing Ironhide said. But I'll get my sister back, she'll be alright," she sighed, "it will just take time."

"I am sorry for your grief Sarah. I will treat her with the utmost care." Ratchet mumbled and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Sarah just nodded, and angrily wiped away a fat tear that had started to slide down her cheek.

"But about where she will stay, due to what I just told you, she cannot be around males," she looked at the doctor with a slight smile, "especially not the _real_ you."

"I understand, but I do not approve. Please, let Ironhide or I check on her every day."

"Well, Ironhide already makes a daily trip to our house, so why can't he just scan her, and bring the necessary knowledge to you?"

Ratchet nodded, and snorted with some approval.

"That would be suitable."

Sarah let out a smile and walked towards her sister, whom Ratchet had turned around, so her bruised face was turned up. The older sister lovingly stroke the bruised cheek.

"She will be awake soon," Ratchet absently said as he gave her a shot, "this should awake her."

"Thank you."

Normally, Ratchet loathed leaving his medical room to someone else's care. But he could make exceptions. He was even more sure of that when he saw on the feed he was receiving from the room's security camera, with Nicole awakening, shaking from head to toe, and calming down when seeing her sister by her side. Not only did he see them, but he heard them too.

"Nic, calm down love. It's alright, you've just been at the doctor."

"Where is he?" she stuttered, and wildly looked around to search for some sort of male hostile.

"He just left, thought it would be best if you saw me first, and not a man."

"How… thoughtful of him…" Nicole muttered, before painfully swinging her legs over the berth.

"Yes, very. You ready to go home?"

Nicole nodded, and gratefully got dressed with the same clothing that she had worn when entering the base, before painfully moving about.

Ratchet watched the whole ordeal, and was indeed concerned.

_Ironhide, I need you to do a scan of this Nicole for me. Every day. _Ratchet said as their communication link was established.

_Why? _The weapon specialist sourly asked, clearly not satisfied with being on babysitter duty.

_Because, you already go to the Lennox' residence, where I do not. You might as well do it, to save the victim some stress. _

_Fine…_ Ironhide grumbled. _I'll see to her, but only until she can fend on her own._

_I would not have it any other way. _Ratchet said with satisfaction clearly emitting from their link, before he ended it.

_Lights will guide you home  
And ignite your bones  
And I will try to fix you_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

On Sarah's request, Ironhide was going to take them home before returning Will himself to his private residence. Sarah knew that Ironhide would never hurt the woman that stood next to her, but even to her, his holoform was intimidating. She just hoped that her sister would not be too intimated by him, but when her arm snuck around her sister's frame, she could feel her shivering.

The man that stood before Nicole was causing her to shake with fear. His muscles were larger than any she had ever seen before, and the only thing on her mind, was the damage he potentially could cause her. His black hair made her think of the darkness that she had faced for so long. A scar ran across his left eye, and she wondered how anyone could hurt the behemoth before her.

But even though that his appearance scared the shit out of her, for some reason, the eyes he had, brighter than any color of the sky she had ever seen, showed more than just a badass soldier.

When he spoke, Nicole couldn't help but flinch.

"Hello Nicole, I'm Ian Rony . I'll be taking you and your sister home."

His voice was deeper than anything she had heard before, and she felt stunned by the magnitude it carried. She could do nothing but gaze in the eyes that he had, but flinched even more when he gazed back into her brown ones.

"Come on Nic, you've been in that car before." Sarah comforted, and gently took her sister's hand, tugging at it slightly. With small and insecure steps, and small huffs of pain, Nicole began to walk towards the black truck. Ian got inside the truck, and loudly smacked the door as he entered the driver's seat. Nicole sat in the back, her hand clenching Sarah's tightly.

"Don't be scared. I'm just going to take you home." Ian assured, and put the truck in gear. With a soft purr, the engine came to life, and the wheels began to turn. Nicole stiffened as her surroundings began to move as they drove by. They exited the massive gate, and Nicole wondered who or what they had at this base, since the entrance was that size.

The vehicle closed in on the station where permission to enter was either granted or denied, and the soldier standing in the booth, lazily nodded when he clearly recognized Ian's face. A gruff nod and grunt was all the soldier received as Ian drove by.

The white landscape drove by them incredibly quick, and the light colors made Nicole's vision blur.

"It's all so white… and pretty…" she mumbled and tried to focus on the snow outside the windows.

"It is Nic. Get some sleep, we'll be home in no time." Sarah soothed, and carefully stroked her sister's hair, so that her touch would not affect the bruises on her skull. It didn't take Nicole long before she slept with her tender head resting on Sarah's shoulder.

Even though Sarah shook her sister gently, the other woman nearly jumped out of her skin when she awoke.

"Please, don't hurt me!" she winced, and desperately turned her head several times before calming down, and realizing that she was safe.

"We won't hurt you." Ian's voice rung in her eyes, and with a frightful gasp, she swung her head around. A painful groan escaped her lips as her movements had gone too fast. Ian's piercing eyes glared at her, and she winced.

"Let me help you out." Sarah said, who quickly got out of the car, and rushed to Nicole's side. The woman stumbled outside, and shivered involuntarily when her poorly covered feet touched the snow.

"If you're cold, I can carry you inside?" Ian suggested, and bit down on his lip when Nicole shuddered.

"No thank you Iron- Ian, I'll take her." Sarah insisted, and supported her sister while they walked to the house. The snow squeaked under their steps, and when they got on the porch, Sarah opened the door, let out Buddy so Nicole could be inside the house on her own.

And not fearing for her life in her sanctuary.

"Just get yourself comfortable, I'll be right back." Sarah comforted as her sister vanished inside the house, and Buddy came charging out. He attacked Sarah first, with clean paws, a wagging tail and a wet tongue. That was, before he saw Ironhide standing not too far away. For some reason, the canine adored Ironhide, who after a certain other canine accident, was not too fond of pets.

"Get off of me you silly beast!" Ironhide sneered and tried to avoid the attack, without much luck.

Sarah grinned widely, until she felt bad for the weapon specialist, and feared that her dog could be blasted to pit and back.

"Buddy, get back here!" she commanded, and dismayed, but obediently he trotted up the porch, and placed himself next to her. Sarah padded him as a praise, before she turned to Ironhide, who looked at her with annoyance. "Ian? Is that the best you could come up with?"

Ironhide scowled and crossed his arms.

"I believe it suits me."

Sarah went over his appearance, and realized it did fit him. Ian sounded just like a big buff guy, and Ironhide was buff with a capital b.

"It does. Can you tell Ratchet thanks from me when you get to the base?" Sarah asked.

Ironhide nodded, and Sarah gave him a smile before she turned around to walk inside the house. She expected to hear Ironhide's engine rev as a sign of him leaving, but when she didn't hear it, but hearing another pair of feet moving besides her own, she turned around. She squealed a little when his massive body was a feet from her own.

"Where you going?" she asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Ratchet have asked me to keep an eye on her, due to her medical condition."

"Will and I are perfectly able to do that."

Ironhide sighed heavily, not trying to hide his annoyance.

"It is not because we doubt your abilities, but because you are not able to transmit what you see the way that is most useful for Ratchet, he asked me to do such."

Sarah was not thrilled about the thought of another man in the house. It was hard enough for Nicole to deal with Will, her brother-in-law and the canine, a sweet one, but still a creature she feared, Buddy. Yet, she knew that Ratchet only intended the best for her sister, as he did with all of his patients. He was just a thorough and grumpy doctor.

"Alright then." Sarah agreed, but dangerously waved a finger in front of his face, "but you better keep your cool, and not lose your temper."

Ironhide scoffed. "I never lose my temper."

Sarah tried to hold back a snicker, causing Ironhide to roll his eyes, but still snicker along.

"Never. Where are you gonna sleep?" Sarah asked and opened the door to let Ironhide and Buddy in.

"I'll just sleep in the truck."

Sarah nodded, and looked around in the kitchen and living room to find Nicole. She smiled when she saw her sister snuggling herself comfortable on the couch. Her breathing was a little troubled, but Sarah suspected it was because of the cold, so Nicole's nostrils might be stuffed. The older sister smiled, and grabbed a handkerchief from the kitchen. She approached Nicole with caution, and plopped down on the floor next to the couch. Nicole gasped when she saw heard someone sit next to her, but she calmed down when she realized it was Sarah.

"Sorry." Sarah mumbled and held out the handkerchief. "Blow."

Nicole smiled weakly, and with a slight effort, she blew her nose.

"Ew." Sarah mumbled with a smile, before she pulled away and walked to the kitchen to throw out the used handkerchief. When the paper had disappeared into the trash can, she turned to Ironhide, who had sat down on the kitchen chair, and was staring intensely at Nicole's resting shape on the couch.

"Her sinuses are stuffed."

"I know, it's probably because of the cold."

Ironhide nodded, and rose from his seat. Sarah was busy enjoying her well earned cop of strong coffee, and didn't notice Ironhide walking towards the sleeping Nicole. Ironhide searched for the basket where most of the other blankets was, and when he successfully spotted it, he grabbed one. Then, he as Sarah had done, sat on the floor next to the couch where Nicole was resting.

But Ironhide was not known to be graceful, and accidently, he bumped into the sofa table, causing just enough noise for Nicole to wake up. Her eyes quickly opened, and when she saw Ironhide, or Ian as she knew him, her instincts told her to scream for help.

But her heart told her otherwise.

_Don't be scared. _

His eyes told her that she would never have to fear him

_Don't be scared._

Her logic sense told her that she should scream for Sarah.

_Don't be scared. _

Her heart told her to let him in.

* * *

Hey you guys! I apologize for the very late update, but I have been on holiday, and tomorrow I'm gonna leave _yet_ again. I hope you forgive me, but at least, enjoy the chapter! :D R&R and don't forget to vote on the poll on my profile.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey guuuuuys, long time no see! I dont hope that you've missed me too much, but I've missed you. A thanks to all of the ones who've been voting on my poll, and with the outcome of that (7 voted for 'Sisterhood'), here is, without further ado, chapter 9 of Sisterhood.

Chapter 9

I wish I did, but I do not own Transformers.

* * *

Sarah was stunned. There were no other words for her to describe it when the knot in her stomach quickly disappeared, when Ironhide was so close to her sister, but without the expected reaction.

Submission and terror was what she expected. Instead, a sudden calm expression showed on her face, that replaced the submissive and terrorized she had seen the last couple of winter days. But it vanished as quickly as it appeared, and she recoiled again.

Although Sarah noticed it seemed to be involuntary. As if her mind, and therefore her body, didn't follow her heart and soul.

"Are you cold?"

With the robotic movement that formed a nod, Ironhide was unsure if she truly was cold, or was just giving into him.

"I'm not sure if you're really cold or not…" he mumbled, and opened his mouth to continue speaking.

"No sir, I'm very, very cold, please let me use the cover." She begged, and held out her bruised hand in plea.

"Let me take that!" Sarah insisted, and quickly rose from the table. "Let it go old man, you know the state she's in!" she hissed as she shoved him out of the way.

"I'm not that cold Sarah… But it'd be nice with another cover." Nicole whispered and turned her face towards Ironhide, who was now sitting at the table, staring into the darkness of his coffee. "Sorry."

"What for?" he gruffly said, and Nicole almost shivered at the power of which he spoke, causing Sarah to sending knifes through her eyes.

"Because I didn't do what you wanted me to."

Ironhide slowly turned his face towards the scarred woman. He seemed to be unsure of to approach her or not, but Sarah's deathly glares gave him plenty of reasons not to. Wisely, he decided to stay at his seat, and merely giving Nicole a gentle gaze.

"I have a very old friend of mine. He's as old as the massive oak trees in California, and is as wise as he is old." Ironhide snickered slightly before continuing. "Or so it seems. But he once told me, that freedom is the right of all sentient beings." He eyed her cautiously from his kitchen chair. "You look like a sentient being Nicole. Are you?"

"Alright, who wants some lunch?" Sarah quickly interrupted, and shot even more glares towards Ironhide, before turning to Nicole again. "You want some soup love? You'll be warmer that way too."

"That'd be nice." Nicole silently said. Sara smiled at her sister, but her smile turned upside down as she turned towards Ironhide, and roughly pushed the mech outside. If you could call his feet moving pushing.

"You got some nerve Ironhide!" Sarah silently hissed, trying to get the hissing through without Nicole hearing.

"I bet I do, but I'm not sure if it's a good thing this time." He dryly commented and breathed in the cool air. It was a strange view, when the mechs took a breath, but no small fogs were created when they breathed out.

"You can't talk to her like that yet! Are you glitching!"

"I'm not, but I'm being honest. Humans are sentient, and she deserves the right to choose."

"I know that 'Hide, but still. She's not ready to make that choice."

"She obviously has Sarah. She have chosen to escape,, and to be free. But freedom is new to her circuits, and she doesn't know how to. She is the rebellious sparkling, held back by hatred, who suddenly break free, and doesn't know how to be a free like his brothers and sisters."

"How will she learn though?" Sarah asked, and carefully looked inside the window, where she saw how Nicole flinched when Buddy decided that he should sit on the couch with her. He didn't hurt her, he just sat there, and smiling, if a canine could do such, at her. Nicole giggled a little, and reached her hand out to touch his wet nose. It was as if he knew he should be careful with this one and that she was a lost puppy.

Someone who needed to find support and love again.

Sarah smiled when she saw the scene.

"I believe you know the answer now." Ironhide said as she turned to him again.

"She needs guidance, and her own will."

Ironhide nodded with a grunt of satisfaction, and looked inside the house again. The careful touch of Buddy's nose had become a scratch behind the ear, and the canine had closed his eyes in delight.

"Love and time."

Sarah smiled at Ironhide and padded his stomach.

"Next time I'm in need of some advice, I won't call Optimus, I'll call you, you big teddy bear."

"I am not a teddy bear Sarah Lennox!" Ironhide grunted back, and trotted towards the truck.

"You are too you silly thing." She laughed, "You going to pick up Will?"

Ironhide just nodded, and placed is holoform properly in the driver's seat. Sarah waved bye as he pulled out from the driveway, destroying the soft white snow under his tires. The woman was thrilled to see the little, very little progress Nicole had made, but it was something.

"Hey darling, you want some soup?"

"I'd rather just sleep, if it's alright sis." Nicole said with a smile, and got herself more comfortable on the couch. Buddy was laying on the other end, resting his head on her shin. Sarah was sure he knew that she was bruised, as she had never seen himself rest upon a object, or limp so lightly.

"Alright love, if you wake up, I'll be upstairs napping for myself."

"Aight.. I love you Sarah."

"I love you too Nic."

With exhausted steps, Sarah managed to carry her body upstairs, and collapse unto her own bed.

* * *

_I have begun a transmission of the data I have retrieved by scanning the woman. _

_Thank you Ironhide. Anything that I should know about her, that your optics have noticed, and you are not sharing?_

_Go connect some circuits doc-bot!_

Ironhide's engine revved in annoyance at Ratchet's claims, but he knew that there was some reason for them.

For one, he felt a strange urge to take her in his strong arms, and protect her from all harm. He remembered how Lennox once told him that you get protective when you see a hurt or stray animal, especially if the animal is young. He felt the same way, as if he had seen an abandoned puppy.

_I have to protect her, and shield her from harm. But why?_

The specialist shook the thoughts off his processor, and honked the horn loudly as he entered the base. Several soldiers that recognized the truck hooted at him, and Ironhide gruffly honked in response.

_My Prime, may I have a word?_

_You may Ironhide._

_Is Major Lennox done for his duties for today?_

_I am unsure, but you can find him in his office. I believe he is discussing some recent, and minor attacks from the Decepticons._

Ironhide wondered why Optimus wasn't there when there had been Decepticon activity, and his anxiety was easily detected by the Prime.

_The attacks have been minor, Ironhide, that's why I am not there with Morshower and Lennox. My duties are others than attending meetings of Decepticons._

_Yes my Prime. Thank you._

Ironhide ended the connection, and went to the conference room. By Optimus' request, it had been build so that both Autobot and human could fit inside. Ironhide carefully knocked on the door, as it had happened too many times he had knocked down the door because of his strength. He always blamed the constructors, but after it had repeated itself, Optimus had kindly asked him not to be so rough on the doors. With a gentle knock, Ironhide fist knocked on the doors, who slid apart.

He took it as a sign that he was free to enter.

"What do you wish to do about this sir?" Lennox asked Morshower, who both noticed Ironhide who had entered the room.

"I would like to consult Ironhide Major. Specialist, minor assaults throughout the United States have been performed, without a doubt by your worst enemies in the galaxy, the Decepticons. We are unsure of who have been assaulting us, but, in your eyes specialist, what would be the appropriate thing to do?"

"Stalk the Deceptifreaks down, and squish them like ants under my pedes."

Morshower roughly laughed, and nodded.

"Thank you for your opinion Ironide." The general grinned and focused on Lennox once more. "I believe we are done here Lennox. You are dismissed."

Lennox nodded as a thanks, and sighed heavily when the officer's aged face disappeared off the screen. The man looked exhausted as he turned to Ironhide.

"You look like you're ready to go home." Ironhide dryly commented, and reached his servo down, thus Will could step on it. Almost immediately, the man laid on his back in the massive fist that was carrying him.

"I am, that was the only thing I had to do for today." He yawned and squirmed about in Ironhide's fist to get comfortable. "We gotta pick up Annabelle on our way."

Ironhide's faceplates formed a smile, and he carefully lowered himself to safely put Will on the ground, before his parts twisted and turned until he was one. The black GMC truck that Will knew so well.

"You mind driving home?" Will asked as he smiled, before a confirming rev of Ironhide's engine meant that he agreed to do so. It was getting more and more useful with that holo-form all the Autobots had received. Now, Will could sleep in the truck driving wherever he wanted, without he actually driving, and people getting scared by the sight of no one being in the driver's seat, yet the vehicle still being driven. With a last honk of his horn, Ironhide drove towards the daycare where Annabelle was at.


	10. Chapter 10

"No, I did this the last time we went to this dreadful place."

"Whatever, you did not! It is _your_ turn!"

"That is not true."

An argument had been going on inside the black truck for seven straight minutes.

Both men refused to enter the daycare, for a reason they both shared.

The women.

For some reason, that none of them could believe, the women at the daycare, loved both Will and Ironhide. Ironhide couldn't believe what in the world that they saw in Will, and Will couldn't believe what in the world they saw in Ironhide.

But, here they were again, parked outside the daycare, arguing which one should go in.

"Alright, we'll go rock paper scissors." Will concluded, and held out his fist. Ironhide sighed heavily, and held out his own, which seemed rather large compared to Wills.

"I still don't believe that this _child's _game can solve such problems." He hissed, and shook his fist three times.

The men looked each other in the eye, and then down on their hands

Will had taken the scissor, Ironhide the paper.

"Frag!" he exclaimed, and with a stream of curses in Cybertronian behind him, he left the vehicle, and thundered in to the daycare.

But when Ironhide saw the children play outside in the yard that was fenced in, in order to keep the children away from the potentially dangerous traffic, all the annoyance of dealing with the feemes, seemed to fade away.

The thought of never seeing a sparkling play again, was spark wrenching, and somehow, seeing the little human sparklings play, made the feeling a little better to deal with.

"Ah, mr. Rony!"

The usual, cheery chirp from the femme he couldn't stand the most, forced him to turn down the volume on his audio receptors.

"Mrs. Coburn…" he said, and tried to sound as gentle and caring as possible. "I am here to pick up Annabelle."

She smiled sweetly, almost too sweet for the likings of Ironhide, and nodded.

"Why, yes of course! But don't you wish to sip at a cup of tea before retrieving her?"

Ironhide smiled at the woman, and desperately looked around to find Annabelle, to no avail, before putting up his hands.

"I would love to mrs. Coburn, but I have work to do, and it must be finished by today. I can-"

"Oh pish pash, please, have a seat." She interrupted, and dragged Ironhide in through the door.

Will was nearly crying from laughter.

Around twenty minutes later, the poor Ironhide had still not returned, and Will assumed he was busy, as he had not tried to speak through his vehicle's speakers. He was beginning to doze off, and just when his eyes had closed, and his dreams started to flare, a knock on his window woke him up with a startled exclamation. He angled himself so that he could see a tiny fist continuing to knock on the window.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Annabelle continued to knock, until the awestruck Will got out of the vehicle, and quickly managed to get a hold of his precious child. She continued to knock on the window, before she got so close, that she could caress the exterior with her small hands.

"'Hidey! 'Hidey!" she continued to squeal.

"He's inside to get you honey, where is he?" Will asked with some confusion in his voice, and much annoyance as he realized how easily she had gotten 'out' on her own.

"I dun kno! 'Hidey!" she explained again, and pointed towards the building, realizing the vehicle was occupied.

"Yes, we'll go get him." Will said with a smile, and determined look on his face. A few male and female nursery nurses were to be seen outside, taking care of the children playing outside, and he wondered again how his Annabelle managed to get out.

Walking into the large building, where you entered a hallway, and then on the right were the rooms where the kids toys, clothing and whatever they might have brought with them today, with large lockers in the middle and the walls. Will noticed the locker that belonged to Annabelle, and just as her room back at the house, was stuffed with glitter and pink.

"Daddy, my locker!" she squealed when he looked towards it, and she squirmed around in his grip to get over to it.

"Can't go to it now Belle, " Will said, causing the toddler to pout. Afraid of her reaction, he added: "we gotta find Ian."

That caused Annabelle to smile wide with the few teeth she had, and nodded.

"Aight, then you have to help me out. Try walking around, shouting 'Ian', as loud as you can!" Will encouraged, and carefully placed the girl on the floor.

"Iiiiiian! Iiiiiian!" she started to yell, seeming to get more and more upset by the second when she didn't find her friend.

"Is that my Belle!" a gruff voice replied, causing the little girl to turn around, and squeal loudly. Behind Will, stood Ironhide, with a bunch of women swooning over his muscles.

Will couldn't imagine it being his personality.

"Iiiiian!" Annabelle squealed again, and ran towards the massive man. The women behind Ironhide 'aw'ed' in unison as they saw the touching moment, and a sting of jealousy struck at Will's heart.

He knew it was without reason, but to know that his own daughter looked more forward seeing their Guardian and alien in one, than her him, it stung. However, he shrugged it off.

"You ready to go home?" Ironhide asked, and quickly made his way towards Will, in an attempt to get rid of the women behind him.

Annabelle nodded vigorously, and reached out for Will. Ironhide handed the child over with no trouble, but grumbled when Annabelle asked him to take her things, and put in the car.

"You leaving so soon mr. Rony, and you too mr. Lennox?" one of the women piped behind Lennox. The soldier turned around with a slightly twitching smile on his face.

"I wish I could ladies, but the house looks as if someone dropped a bomb. I have to go, otherwise miss Sarah will have me dead."

All the swooning looks from before suddenly turned into knives at the mention of Will's wife, but he ignored them.

"Bye Annabelle, take good care of your daddy and friend." One of the women said, before waving goodbye to the men.

Annabelle was happily babbling when Will fastened the seatbelt on her kid seat, before he secured it, and then going up in the right front seat. Ironhide had proceeded to place Annabelle's belongings next to her in the back seat, before he drove out of the few parking spots that remained for the parents of the children. With a playful rev of his engine, causing Annabelle to squeal in delight, the trio made their way home.

"Momma!"

"Hey sweetie!" Sarah exclaimed as Annabelle came thundering towards her. The toddler giggled loudly when Sarah swooped her up in her arms, and carefully tickled her. "Have you been a good girl in daycare?"

Annabelle nodded vigorously and began to babble about her day, before squealing when Buddy tried to kiss her in his own special way. Sarah gently commanded the canine to cease his admiration, and he obediently sat down. The mother hen gently placed her chick upon the ground, and Buddy, went from excited beast, to gentle spirit.

From inside, Nicole watched as Buddy carefully nudged Annabelle's nose with his own snout, causing her to giggle, and hugging his face with all of her small body. Carefully, Buddy lifted his head, making Annabelle laugh loudly when she lost contact with the earth.

She couldn't help but smile at the scene.

It truly looked peaceful, with a house pet, father, mother and daughter.

Something that Nicole had always longed for, but never had received. Absently, she placed her hand on her own belly, and disappointedly sighed before turning her gaze towards Annabelle.

And then, there was the other man.

Ron was his name, as she had learned.

There was something about him, but she didn't understand it, and it scared her. Although, whatever the reason was, it was alright with her that there was something mysterious about him.

As if he knew she was thinking about him, his gaze turned towards her.

Her cheeks went dangerously red, and she turned her face away. She couldn't help but smile when she dared to peek outside again, to see Ron entering the vehicle, and driving away. For some reason, it was hard for her to not beg him to stay close to her.

* * *

Crappy ending is crappy, so sorry. This has just been waiting to be completed, so I was just like blech. Hope it satisfies your needs dear readers, R&R.


	11. Chapter 11

Hey guys, long time no see.

I am so sorry for the late updates, but that's gonna have to do for now. School gotta be my main priority at the moment, so all my stories might be updated slowly. Hope everyone's doing alright, and thanks to everybody who still reviews and alerts.

R&R, and I don't own Transformers.

Oh, and this might be a little more mature than the rest, so beware.

* * *

A couple of days had passed, and Nicole was hardly making any progress. Although it seemed to Will and Annabelle that she was improving, with being able to touch Buddy or even my husband, she would disappear. It seemed that she had still not gotten used to the fact, that she was safe, and I would search the house for her, where it would take me a few minutes to find, but hours to being able to talk to her. There were only two ways I could find her.

She'd be staring into a wall, occasionally blinking and whining, or throwing a fit that would make Annabelle proud. She would scream and cry, until she would collapse on bed in exhaustion, sleeping restlessly.

That had happened today. She had been throwing yet another fit, the 3rd in the last couple of days, and was resting on my bed.

"Nicole, it's dinner time…" I whispered, and gently tugged Nicole's shoulder, hoping that her sleep had been calm and peaceful.

But my hope of that was always crushed.

She managed to rise with a low, yet piercing cry, before frantically looking around.

"Hey, calm down Nic. It's just me. Want some food?" I hesitantly asked, and carefully padded her shoulder again.

"What's for dinner?" She croaked, and rubbed her swollen face.

"Soup, so you can even eat with us today." I said, and sent her a wide smile, reaching out my hand at the same time.

With a small nod, Nicole accepted my hand, and slowly rose. She whimpered when she tried to walk, due to the bruises that were improving, but still massive, hurt her. I supported her some more, and she gratefully smiled towards me.

"Anytime sis." I smiled back, and kissed her forehead.

As she staggered down the stairs, Buddy came thundering towards her, and she winced.

"Down!" I strictly commanded, and the canine immediately obeyed, even with the sad look in his eyes. Nicole and I continued to walk towards the dinner table, where the seats of Annabelle and Will were empty. I escorted Nicole to her seat, and sat down on my own.

"Will!" I shouted, and waited an annoying amount of seconds before I heard a reply.

"What's up baby!" he shouted back, probably outside working on whatever was able to be worked on during the winter season.

"There's dinner! Nice and hot soup!"

"Alright babe, I'll be right in!"

I rolled my eyes, and smiled at Nicole, who could not keep her eyes off the soup. But when I noticed this, she immediately stopped, and stared straight ahead instead.

"Hey, I know you're hungry Nic. Drool away." I encouraged, and nodded towards the bowl, "eat."

"I don't want to eat before he gets in here…" she mumbled, and looked outside the window.

"You don't have to wait darling. Please eat." I said, a little bit sterner sounding this time.

But she shook her head, and refused until Will came in.

"Come on honey, let's eat!" I cheerfully said, the cheerful tone more or less required so Nicole would begin eating.

"You don't have to say that twice." Will smiled, and kissed me on the cheek before he proceeded to sit down. He was just about to dig in, but confused looked at the table.

"Where's Belle?"

I nodded towards the stairs.

"Still sleeping. It's been an exhausting day apparently. She'd just fuss if I woke her up."

Will grinned and let out a few breaths at his spoon with soup, "that sounds like our daughter," before taking the spoon in his mouth. He smiled wide as the warm soup made the way down his throat.

"This is delicious Sarah." He praised, and was just about to greedily take another sip, before he noticed Nicole just stirring the liquid up. "You not hungry Nic?"

With a frightened expression on her face, Nicole looked up.

"I'm waiting for you to be done with your meal sir…" she quietly said, and continued to stir around in her soup.

"You don't have to wait for me." He said and slurped in some more soup.

"Yes sir, I do." She insisted, and although both of us tried to encourage her to eat, she refused until Will was done.

When he finally stopped eating, due to the 'massive amount of garden work' had made him starving, she begun eating. I had finished long before Will, but my southern manners kept me from leaving the table.

At least the southern manners my mother taught me.

Just as she was slowly working her way through the soup, a familiar cry rung throughout the house. I sighed heavily, and Buddy, who previously had been hoping to get some bread that I had made earlier that went with the soup, tagged along as I walked up the stairs.

I didn't suspect that she would react that way.

* * *

After Sarah had gone upstairs, Nicole had been so occupied with her soup that she had forgotten that she was alone with a man again. When she looked up from her meal, the only thing she recalled was fear. Her eyes went blind with terror, and she struggled to keep herself on the seat. She blurrily noticed how Will quickly rose from his own seat as she fell down. He clearly spoke loudly, but his voice was hard to hear.

She heard how Sarah rushed down, but that too was hard to hear.

After some time, everything went black.

* * *

((If you don't wish to read the mature part, skip this. Thankyou.))

"_You are nothing but a worthless piece of trash! I don't know why I even married a southern whore like you!"_

_It was yet another day of verbal and physical abuse. Tom had arrived home in a usual drunken state, and the target was, as usual, his wife. _

_Nicole was shivering in the corner, while the beer bottle in Tom's hand got emptier by the minute. He took a sip, and looked towards her again._

"_You are not a wife! You are not even a human you filthy beast!" _

_He took another sip, and with a angry look at the bottle, that was now empty, he threw it against the wall, dangerously close to her face. She dared not to make a sound, but tried to hold it back as the pieces struck her cheek. A few minor cuts appeared on her face, but the man before her didn't care. _

_Several punches followed that night, and as they were about to go to bed, it was not over._

_Nicole was in more pain, as the beatings had been rougher than usual. But when she felt his hand going up her thigh, she was unsure of how to._

"_It hurts…" she whispered, and turned to face him, only to get her face roughly slapped back. _

"_Don't speak woman!" he hissed, and roughly started to take off her shredded clothes. _

_It was more painful than usual, but whenever she winced, Nicole would just receive another slap. She bit her teeth, and struggled not to whine. Her nails almost made holes in the sheet because of her grip. Her tears and his sweat soaked the sheets. When he was done, he drunkenly collapsed on her bruised body. The stench of liquor made her want to vomit, but she managed to push his heavy body over to his side of the bed. With a few painful movements, she swung her legs over the bed, and limped outside the bedroom. If she slept in the guest room, and locked the door, he usually forgot about her until he came home._

_But she never would._

_

* * *

_

"Ratchet, I'm unsure of what we can do for this human femme…" Ironhide stated as he entered the medical bay.

"What do you mean with that Ironhide? We can do almost anything. These silly technologies are still centuries, if not more behind ours." Ratchet snorted with a defensive tone.

"Yes, for illnesses evident on the body. But this one…" he poked at his helmet with a servo, "her illness is in her mind."

"Well, if you had been abused by some violent and harsh femme, I'm sure your processor would need some repairs to."

Ironhide rolled his optics in annoyance.

"I am being serious Ratchet. Her tantrums are worse than Annabelle's."

"And I thought her tantrums were improving…" Ratchet muttered as he looked over a data pad. He mumbled something to himself, and putting the data pad away, and looking to Ironhide.

"There isn't much we can do with such matters Ironhide. We can only give her time."

The medic turned his back to Ironhide, who had turned as well to leave the bay.

"Why do you care so much anyway?" Ratchet asked, with a optic ridge raised in curiosity.

Ironhide grumbled something that Ratchet couldn't hear.

"I can't hear you."

"It is Will's sister in law. His grief is mine."

With those words, Ironhide left the bay, leaving Ratchet to attend whatever business might come into his domain. The medic shook his head in amusement.


	12. Chapter 12

Dear God guys, life is such a pain. Well, I got to say it's my fault too. Inspiration is so not alive when it comes to FanFiction, but I've begun on an original story that takes up so much of my time. FanFiction is so not a priority, and I apologize. But!

Enjoy the chapter, and sorry for the massive delay, and the short chapter. Inspiration is hard to find.

* * *

Nicole obviously disliked being alone with Will.

In her fear, she had passed out. It took a couple hours before Sarah had been able to get her back. When Nicole had been brought out of her blackout, she had cried for hours. But exhaustion won in the end, and she fell asleep.

After she had fallen asleep, Sarah looked to her husband with the same exhaustion in her eyes.

"This is tiring Will. She haven't gotten any better at all." She sighed, and dropped her head on his chest.

"Don't give up hope babe, that's the worst thing you can do." He mumbled into her hair and held her tight.

"But it doesn't get better. She's stuck in this… circle!" Sarah said, the despair obvious in her voice, and her arms falling down to her sides in lost hope, before placing them around Will's waist again. "I can't break it, and she's struggling to do so herself."

"I know, I know. But you can't give up."

He quietly loosed his grip, and cupped Sarah's face in his hands.

"Prove the bastard wrong when he tried to break your sister. None of you can be broken, and if so, the rest of you will be fixed together by me."

Sarah let out a small sigh, but she couldn't help but smile either.

"If you can't fix it with duct tape, you haven't used enough?"

"You got it babe. Now, please go and rest."

"But Nicole will be upset if you watch her, I'll just sleep on the floor."

"No, you need to rest in the bed. I promise I'll be careful. I'll stay as far away as I can."

"I doubt it'll work dear, but it is a good try. Sleep good."

"You too babe."

As Sarah dragged herself to her bed, Will followed her upstairs to grab a pillow and blanket for him to rest in the kitchen. About as soon Sarah got herself comfortable, she fell asleep. Will quietly grabbed a pillow and a blanket before returning to the kitchen.

He tried making himself comfortable on the cold floor, but instead, he decided to go outside and gaze at the stars that always came out to play at this time at night.

With his blanket wrapped well around him, and a low whistle to make Buddy follow him, he left the house. Snow was quietly falling, and Buddy knew, almost, nothing better but to chomp the flakes that fell. His paws left obvious tracks in the snow that had already fallen, and Will couldn't help but smile at the display. Ironhide was eyeing the display with some joy, as he was never into 'critters' as he liked to put it, after the Mojo incident.

"How is Nicole?"

Will sighed heavily and ruffled up his hair, before his hand fled from the cold and under the covers.

"No. She had a case yesterday and she just fell asleep from it."

"When was this case?"

"At around dinner time yesterday."

"So she's been odd for a day or so?"

"Yeah. It's a pain 'Hide, I really wish we could make her feel better, but when I think she's taking one step ahead, something happens that makes her take two back."

"I see. Is there anyone who can get through to her, somehow?"

Will shrugged before the truck. Buddy only continued with his frolicking, that had now gotten to him rolling in the snow, giving himself the equivalent of an icy shower.

"Buddy and I scares her the most. She's fine… ish, when she is around Sarah," he looked down at the snow between his legs, "Maybe I should go away for some time."

"That is not something that you should even consider. Time is a long time, she needs abundances of it."

"I guess so."

Will closed his eyes, and shivered at the breeze that gently shook him. A sudden thud startled him, and he saw how Buddy had placed his large paw on the step between Will's legs. The canine pulled his leg away, and Will looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Will looked down to where the paw had been placed, and his paw print had left a shape very similar to a heart.

"This is not right Buddy, let's go inside. It's way too late for us anyway." Will said, with a slightly scared expression on his face.

The dog cheerfully followed him, and rushed inside when the door was opened.

"Are we off tomorrow?"

"I believe so. You can sleep in on the floor."

"Sweet!", he exclaimed as he lifted his arms up in joy.

His joy was short, as Buddy swiftly had placed himself in front of the heater, causing the snow in his fur to melt, and was soaking wet.

"Buddy, c'mon man!" Will groaned as his pet stood before him, with his tongue rolling out of his mouth, and a tail going faster than the deceased Jazz.

"I really can't be bothered with this…"

With a couple of more groans and curses, Will searched the bathroom for a towel. His fatigue didn't pay much attention to what towel he grabbed, and he figured the nearest one would do. He walked back into the kitchen, and saw that Buddy was preparing for the night by lying on his owner's blanket.

"Oh no no no! It's _my _bed!" Will hissed and roughly started to dry his pet.

Buddy clearly didn't approve, and instead of standing still, he decided to try to nipple on the towel as it dried his fur. But, it didn't work, and before long, he was dry.

Sort of, and even though that Buddy loathed Will for a minute, the second the towel was off, he smothered him with kisses.

Will grinned, and pushed the dog away, before making himself comfortable on his kitchen floor. None of them noticed that Nicole had awakened from the minute they came back inside, and had eyed them from the couch.

Whenever she saw them playing, like they did right that moment, or some other time these past weeks, a wave of emotion took over. Sorrow, for the life she would not get, envy, for the life that Sarah had found, fear, for men and anger for the man that made her this way.

_Maybe, _she thought, _it is time for a change._ She had been away from Tom for 2 weeks, roughly at least.

2 weeks where she had still lived in fear of what a man might be able to do to her.

It was time for a change, and from that second, at 12:42 AM, she decided, that she would never grant a man the power over her, as Tom had. Even at least 4 states away, his violent ways didn't cease to control her.

_No more._

_

* * *

_

Nicole didn't have nightmares that night, and she woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. She looked over to the television, and saw that it was 9:30 AM, a proper time to rise and shine. She got up with a yawn, and stretched her arms as much as she could without agony.

Sarah had from the kitchen heard Nicole groan, and thought it was another nightmare. She quickly let Will do the bacon, before rushing into the living room, only to find her sister sitting up straight.

"Good morning Sarah."

Flabbergasted over her sister talking without being asked to first, not many words left Sarah's mouth.

"What's for breakfast, my jaw isn't hurting too bad today. Maybe I could try some solid food?" Nicole suggested, and held out her hand.

Sarah nodded, and carefully pulled Nicole up from the couch. With few painful and determined steps, Nicole made her way to the kitchen.

Will was just enjoying his bacon and egg, and so was Annabelle.

Nicole stiffened when she saw Will, and her mind was on high alert. A deer stuck in the highlights was what she was when he looked at her, with some egg stuck on his lip.

_Run for it. Hide. Don't stop running. He'll find you. _

She tried her hardest to disobey her brain, and with a quivering voice, she spoke.

"Y-y-you g-got so-some eg-egg r-r-right…;" she pointed to her own lip,"t-there."

Will seemed flabbergasted too, and needed a few seconds before he realized what she had said, and wiped away the egg.

"Thanks!" he said, and continued to munch on his food, although sending Sarah weird looks. Sarah shrugged, before sitting down next to Annabelle.

"So, we're all off today, what you wanna do Bells?"

"Go outside and make snowmen! And snow angels!" the toddler exclaimed cheerfully, with bacon and eggs in her mouth. Nicole snickered at the gross display.

"Sounds like a plan!" Will said, and began taking out the dishes. Nicole quickly got up, before she was reminded by mostly Sarah and herself, that she did not have to do anything. Instead, she continued on her breakfast. While putting the dishes in the appropriate places, the parents tried to keep a secret conversation.

"What's up with her Will? I let you watch her for _one night_, and she's close to hugging you the next!"

Will desperately shrugged.

"Hell if I know, I just went outside, talking to him, watched stars, played with Buddy before sleeping on the floor." He raised his eyebrows before pointing a finger to her. "And we, need heating in it during winter."

Sarah rolled her eyes.

"We'll get it as soon as we can, but what is up with Nicole?" she hissed.

"_I don't know_!"

"Mommy, daddy, I'm done! Can we go outside and make snow angels now?" Annabelle suddenly asked, and her parents let out a big smile at her.

"Of course love, let's get you ready." Will said, and quickly grabbed his daughter out of her chair, before zooming towards her closet.

"Um, Nic, wanna come with us?" Sarah hesitantly asked as she finished with her chore.

Nicole quickly looked up from her bacon, and let out a small smile.

"Do you have any clothes I could borrow?" she asked, before taking her last piece of bacon.

Sarah nodded, and grabbed the plate that was now empty.

"Sure."

_Time for a change._


	13. Chapter 13

Yep, another update! I'm really trying hard to have an update every Sunday, so one every week.

So, enjoy it!

Transformers still don't belong to me.

* * *

"Here Nic, put these on and you'll never be cold again!" Sarah happily exclaimed, and threw a bunch of cozy looking clothes towards her sister. With a slight trace of hesitation, Nicole started putting the clothes on.

When everything was on right, Nicole took one glance of herself in the mirror, and burst out laughing. The warmth evidently came from the thickness of her outfit, and the purple color reminded her of the purple Teletubby Tinky Winky.

"Sarah, what the crap is this? I look like a pregnant Teletubby!" she grinned inbetween fits of laughter.

"Oh hush, you do not. But it is pretty purple." Sarah snickered, before quickly putting her own, much nicer looking winter dress on.

Nicole looked at her sister with annoyance obvious in her glance, as her outfit was not a pregnant, purple Teletubby.

"This is not fair Sar, you got the pretty outfit!"

"We will go shopping for some nicer clothes eventually Nic, don't worry." Sarah comforted, and gently pulled her sister outside her room, and downstairs.

Both of them heard Annabelle's giggles and Buddy's playful barks from the outside. Nicole's steps got a little slower, a little more hesitant, and Sarah quickly noticed it.

"You don't have to do this." She slowly said, and took her sister's hand.

Nicole showed a small smile, before gently placing a kiss upon her sister's hand, and padding it.

"I do. For my own sake, and for your family's."

"If you want to go back inside, let me know _immediately_."

Nicole rolled her eyes for a second before nodding.

"I promise. Now, let's go out and have a snowball fight! We never had this much snow down south!" she exclaimed with a cheerful expression upon her face. A cold gust hit her straight in the face, and goose bumps formed on her back. With clattering teeth, she turned to her sister.

"Dude, I'm glad we never had that much snow down south. This is like… Arctic or something!"

Sarah grinned, before padding her sister on the shoulder and leading her outside.

"It only gets colder from here Nicole, this is warm to us."

"Nuh uh!" Nicole grinned, before turning around with a smile, and getting a small snowball square in the face.

"I got auntie!" Annabelle loudly giggled.

Nicole spluttered in an attempt to get the snow out of her mouth, and she carefully rubbed the snow out of her eyes. It hadn't hurt, but her face was almost clear of bruises, so it was still slightly sore.

"Annabelle! You know that auntie got bobos on her face! Apo-"

"Don't worry about it Will," Nicole said with a smile, before making an evil eye to Annabelle, "I'll get her back later!"

Annabelle squealed, half in fear and half delight, before making a dash to the other man in the yard, that Nicole recognized as Ian.

Ian Rony.

Her heart fluttered just by thinking his name.

"Don't worry Bells, I'll protect you from your aunt."

"I'm no scared!" Annabelle said, with some newfound courage, that quickly vanished when Nicole sneered at her for kicks.

"Don't do that!" Ian suddenly sneered back, and sheltered the little kid with a massive hand over her face. "You'll scare her!"

Nicole, startled took a step back, and took refuge behind her sister with a trembling lip.

"Iro-. Ian! Don't talk to her like that! Bells is just about as hard-skinned as you, and you know it." Sarah snapped, and raised a finger as if it was a threat to the robot that hid behind the holoform.

He scoffed, and cradled the child, who whimpered and pushed the large face away from her.

"Let me go!" Annabelle squealed, and wriggled to get out of Ian's strong grip. With a startled expression, the man placed the kid on the cold snow.

She immediately took the same pose her mother had just made, with one small hand on her hip, and the other hand showing a tiny finger pointed towards the much larger man.

"Say sorry to auntie! You scare her!"

Ian seemed to be taken aback by this, and now placed his hands on his hips.

"I refuse! I was just taking care of you!" he said in defense.

Nicole had ceased her trembling, and the fear had been replaced with a giggle, which only grew to uncontrollable laughter.

The three adults looked at each other, confusion evident in their faces. But Annabelle didn't hesitate to burst out in small giggles, and thundered towards the laughing woman. When she with insecure, and yet secure steps arrived before Nicole's feet, she promptly grabbed them.

Nicole's wild laughter turned into a few insecure, awkward snorts as Annabelle stood just above her knees, and holding on tightly. The woman looked to her sister, who was smiling widely.

"It's okay Nic, she's just hugging you." Sarah said with a nod, and stepped away. She cocked her head to the side.

"But Bells, what are you doing?"

"Because Auntie is scared, so I'm making her feel safe." She mumbled into Nicole's thick and purple leg.

"Awwww…." Sarah said with a smile, who got even wider when she saw the look on Nicole's face.

She had never seen her sister smile so wide.

With a massive smile on her face, Nicole grabbed her niece under her arms, and quickly swung her around. She barely noticed how Ian looked terrified, for some odd reason.

"Hush 'Hide." Will said under his breath, dismissing the nerves that his comrade had with a movement of his hand, before speaking again.

"Can't you see how happy she looks, just for a second? Don't ruin this for her. I beg you."

The broad-shouldered man said no more, only crossed his arms and huffed loudly.

But Nicole paid no heed to anything but the child in her arms.

After what seemed to be forever, Nicole put the little girl down, much to her disappointment.

"I wan' go again!" Annabelle complained, and being the spoiled only child she was, she didn't hesitate to stomp on the snow, or kick it away.

"Annabelle hush! Auntie will play with you later." Sarah said, and rolled her eyes at her husband.

"But I wan' play now!" she continued to object and kick up snow.

With a heavy sigh, but also a slight smile of amusement on his lips, Ian pretended to be a massive plane to dive in, and take her.

Sarah recalled this as to be one of Annabelle's favorite things to play as, but this time, something unexpected happened.

She screamed. Very loudly and very clear, that she did not want to be lifted up by Ian.

"Let me go! Auntie, help meeeeeee!" she screamed, and squirmed around in his grip.

Ian was in shock, and knew not how to react.

Nicole however, took action by the sound of Annabelle's screams, and rushed to her side.

"Here, let me have her." She pleaded, and smiled gratefully when Ian handed Annabelle over. She looked up to him, and her mouth formed a tiny 'o'.

Nicole had never believed in the phrase, 'the eyes are the windows to your soul', but now, she did. Without a doubt, she was sure she saw something way beyond the average human life, and who knows what else. She saw all the pain, all the agony, and everything that the bulky man had been through. Nor had she ever noticed the scar over his right eye.

But, most of all, they were blue.

Blue as the sky she cherished, and blue like the ones on the man she hated more than anything.

"Nic, are you alright?" Sarah asked, and quickly came in between the two. Ian looked confused as Will silently pushed him away, as Sarah tried to connect to Nicole.

"Nicole!" She said, a little louder than the previous time.

She still had no luck, as it seemed Nicole was frozen solid by Ian's blue eyes. But when Annabelle's small hand, who gently started rubbing on her cheek to get her back, Nicole blinked a couple of times, only to find herself staring at Annabelle's baby blues instead.

"You ok auntie? You scared of Hidey?"

Nicole was puzzled over Ian's odd nickname, but didn't pay it much attention. She just smiled.

"I'm alright love. Let's go back inside, I'm freezing. Want me to make some hot cocoa?"

"Yaaaaaaaaaay!" Annabelle exclaimed, and lifted her small arms high in the air with joy.

The two women and child went back inside. Sarah, who stood at the front step of the porch turned around to face Will, who only nodded towards the house. She smiled and walked in, leaving Will and Ironhide alone.

"What happened?" Will asked, and scratched his head in confusion.

"Frag if I know. She just… looked at me." Ironhide replied, scratching his own metallic head, in the same state of confusion.

"Did she see anything?"

"Doubtful. Would you think of me as a giant robot if you did not know?"

Will shrugged, before smiling.

"Nope. Want some hot cocoa?"

"I'll pass. I believe Ratchet needs me, so I will get going." Ironhide said, and walked towards the truck.

"Alright big man, say hey to the others from us."

"Will do."

Will waved as he walked inside, and Ironhide entered the truck. He sat there for a few seconds before he actually took off, an odd sensation in his spark. He was unsure of what it was, but he felt jealous.

The thought of someone taking his spot as Annabelle's favorite after her parents, was a thought that Ironhide disliked.

Very much even.

Annoyance drifted through his cycles.

Who did she think she was? A mere human who was scarred for life due to her sparkmate's actions, and who suddenly, had a place to be and live.

Ironhide knew he was being irrational, and unfair.

But to him, Annabelle was his.

Although a child, and not his in any way but a relative's, he would be the last one to deny that the two of them were close. So close that separation had been painful the first couple of times it was necessary. Ironhide loathed being away from her, and she had begun crying whenever she didn't see the truck in the driveway. But eventually, this drama had passed, and both had dealt with separation anxiety.

He never expected her to like the newcomer more than him.

He wished to hate her, but somehow he couldn't, and he cursed his spark for it.


	14. Chapter 14

Wow, I am so terribly sorry for this guys! New years + Christmas has been incredibly busy, and as always, motivation is not something that comes easily! But now, I'll hope to satisfy the thirst you have for Transformer fanfiction!

Enjoy!

* * *

"Why did you freeze such?" Sarah silently asked, as the night had begun.

Annabelle was blissfully resting in Nicole's lap; after large amounts of hot cocoa was consumed. That was, of course, only after a massive rise in the activity level of the toddler, and several tiring games was done to tire her. All of the adults looked at the child with smiles on their faces, but none of them were sure, if it was of pride that they were able to tire her, or if she was incredibly cute lying in her aunt's lap.

Nicole sighed, and Sarah feared if it was the wrong time to ask the question.

"I don't know. His eyes reminds me so much of Tom's, and for a second, I thought he stood before me. But then I saw the scar across his eye, and I knew that it was not the coward that I once belonged to."

"Nic, you _never_ belonged to him."

Nicole remained silent, and gently stroked her niece's soft hair.

"How did he get the scar over his eye?" she suddenly asked, after minutes of silence.

Will and Sarah looked at each other, and Sarah was sure that he had mouthed 'I don't know' to her. Sarah wanted to slap him silly, as she knew, that he knew, but wasn't sure how to tell it.

"Long story short, he received it during a war. Want some more cocoa?" she quickly asked afterwards, trying to change the subject. Even though they had spent so many years apart, Nicole knew her sister well, well enough to know that she was heading unto subjects that she cared little for.

"Which war?"

Sarah looked towards Will again, and he made a tiny helpless shrug. Nicole instantly saw, and probed even deeper into the mystery.

"I know you're hiding something from me Sarah, which war? He doesn't seem to be a day over 25 anyway."

"I don't know actually. I believe he came back from Iraq not too long ago. But he has been a part of our family ever since we met him under some odd circumstances. He didn't have it when he left, but it was there when he came back."

"Ah. Poor fella. I've only heard of the dreadful things that those soldiers have gone through. What all soldiers have gone through." She loudly yawned, and quickly remained silent as Annabelle moved. The child grunted slightly, before moving her body some more to make herself comfortable again. "I'm gonna go to bed, it's been the most exhausting days in years. Physically at least."

With careful movements, she lifted Annabelle's tiny body, and as silently as possible, she carried her upstairs, and came down again.

"Since I'd love to get some sleep, maybe you two can get out of my room now?" she teased, and started rushing Will and Sarah out of 'her' room.

"Wait! Don't you want to sleep in a real bed now?" Will asked with a wide smile.

Sarah smiled too, and grabbed her sister's hand, leading her upstairs to the guest room.

"I don't know how it escaped you, but I've been preparing the guest room for you. So, instead of sleeping in the living room, you can sleep in a bed, which should be much more comfortable than our old couch."

Sarah quickly got behind Nicole, and hid the view from her, by covering her hands in front of Nicole's eyes. With a loud "tadah!", Sarah's hands vanished, and Nicole gasped a little.

A small, but yet nice and cozy room was revealed. With bright colors painted on the wall and curtains of a slightly darker color than what decorated the walls, hid the windows. Nicole flashed her teeth in a wide smile, and took a second to look at the other decorations. The walls were bare besides their color, but she was sure that Sarah could help her out with the feminine touches. The bed looked very comfortable and was much too large for her to rest on by herself, but Sarah knew that her sister, when she was younger, loved to take up as much space as possible. There was a small closet on the left, which was far enough from the bed so the closet doors wouldn't cause trouble with the space, even when opened. She took a brief look inside, to find some of Sarah's old clothes. She smiled even wider, and closed the doors to look around the room some more. When Nicole turned around, she gasped loudly, and tears started to fill her eyes.

The old desk, that once belonged to their mother, which Nicole believed was long gone, stood before her. Delicate decorations of flowers surrounded the frame around the mirror, and the kept going down on each side of the desk, on the outer side of each drawer. She fondly remembered how she and Sarah would dress up when they were younger, with this very desk used to pose in front of the mirror. A pink feather boa used to decorate the top of the mirror, slung around it.

"Where did you get this? I thought she threw it out." Nicole stuttered, and carefully moved a hand over the delicate decoration.

"I wouldn't let her. Too many memories within this desk to just throw it away, so we took it. It's just gotten out of the garage now. It was gathering dust, and since you need a room, not a couch, we thought it'd be a good place to put it," Sarah took a glance around the room with a smile of satisfaction on her face, before looking back to her sister, "you like it?"

Nicole wiped away the tears that had gotten stuck in the corners of her eyes, and assaulted her sister with a massive hug.

"Yes! How couldn't I! This is so beautiful!"

Nicole went over to the window and stared at the winter landscape. Gentle and fragile snowflakes fell quietly upon the already white earth.

"And the view is even more beautiful."

"Yes, you can see the entire backyard. When the winter is over, our neighbors, who have some horse, they'll begin to stand there and graze."

"How wonderful!"

Sarah nodded with a smirk.

"If you're lucky, you might even get to ride on them!"

Nicole let out a massive squeal, as the horse-girl spirit in her had never faded throughout the years.

"That sounds even better! I wish summer would come faster now!"

"It will love, just be patient. I'll let you settle in, just holler if you need something alright?"

With smiles on both their faces, Sarah and Will left Nicole's new room, and shut the door. She took her time to look around. After years of agony and suffering, her life finally seemed to be good.

_Good things happen to good people my love. _

Her mother's favorite saying popped up in her mind, and with yet another squeal, she threw herself upon her bed. It was definitely better than the couch, as it was a lot softer. She looked up at the ceiling, to see if she was able to jump on the bed, a thing that she and Sara used to do, much to their mother's displeasure. With a sly grin, she got up on her legs, and started jumping. She smiled widely as the bed creaked in protest, but she didn't care. With a childish joy, she continued bouncing for a couple of minutes, until she misplaced her foot just an inch, which resulted in that she fell on the bed, and continued to the floor. With a loud thud, she was laying there. She heard the steps of Sarah coming up the stairs, and practically blew the door open.

"What happened? Are you okay! What are you doing on the floor?" she asked and quickly came to her sister's aid.

"Ahem, I was just… you know… jumping on the bed as we did when we were kids." She said with a sheepish smile.

Sarah rolled her eyes, before she started giggling.

"Still a child at heart eh?" she said as she brushed some dust off her sister's shoulder.

"It's mandatory to age, but not to grow up." Nicole said in her defense.

"Don't hurt yourself more than necessary alright?" Sarah scolded, and left the room again.

Nicole sighed slightly, and then placed herself before the mirror. Her face had indeed gotten better. No bruises nor swollen, although it was still a little sore. Her jaw was getting better as well, and she was even able to eat small bits of normal food. She realized that behind all of the bruises and sores, she was a rather pretty young woman. Her eyes were almost so dark that they would appear black, and her wavy locks were matching her eyes. She tried to do a minor model pose, with pouty lips and half-shut eyes.

"What are you doing?"

She startled look to her right, to see that Ian was standing in the doorway.

"Um… eh… nothing!"

He ignored her sayings, and instead sat on her bed.

"I've helped out with this."

"Oh really? Thank you so much! I really love it."

He sent a small smile, and gave her an even smaller nod in return.

"So… what did you do?"

"Well, I mainly helped with carrying and putting the stuff together. It's what I do in the army."

"Putting stuff together and carrying them?"

"To put it simply, yes."

Nicole cocked an eyebrow.

"Make it complicated then."

"You don't want to know."

"I want to know now."

"I'm afraid I'd have to kill you if I told." He said, and smiled a little.

"Well, don't tell me then." She replied with a yawn, and stretched her arms.

"You look exhausted; have a nap."

"Yes sir…" she mumbled, as he stood up, leaving her new bed all to herself. She plopped down upon it, and within minutes, she was sleeping, peacefully for the first time in years.


	15. Chapter 15

Sarah was a bit concerned for her sister. Nicole had been sleeping peacefully through the entire afternoon and continued to the morning. They both had good sleeping hearts and when they were younger a night of partying had always resulted in getting up late in the afternoon. But this was no hungover sleep and Sarah sipped some more of her morning coffee without moving her glance from the staircase.

"Mommy?"

Annabelles' gently voice broke her trance-like state and she flashed a smile towards her daughter.

"Yes Belle?"

"Why is auntie here without uncle?"

Children always had such innocence about them when questioning serious matters. As if their young minds could not fathom the evil or wrongdoings of humans. It was a harsh realization that slowly came with age.

"Mommy?"

Sarah was so taken aback by the question that she had stared into her daughters' innocent eyes without noticing.

"Well, you see honey…" she began and stopped when she heard some noise from upstairs. Although the house was fairly old, there were little places where the fundament would creak and squeak in protest, Nicole's new room being one of them. It was near impossible to not notice her being restless by pacing around her room or the silence that indicated her time of rest. Sarah could faintly hear the wardrobe's doors being opened, shut again, and then the gentle sounds of footsteps.

"It's a grownup thing dear, I'll explain later, alright?" she quickly said before greeting her sister with a wide smile.

"Morning sleeping beauty!" she greeted, and handed Nicole a cup of scolding coffee.

Nicole smiled faintly and shook her head.

"I can agree on the sleeping party, although the beauty not so much."

Sarah rolled her eyes before setting her aim on Annabelle.

"Chop chop young lady, finish your breakfast, let's go."

Annabelle clumsily tried to finish her breakfast as quickly as possible, but her coordination wasn't quite right, so she made a mess instead.

"Sorry mommy…" she mumbled with a sad tone to her voice.

"Don't worry about it sweetheart, just let me clean it up," Sarah sent Nicole a glance, "can you help her get dressed?"

While Sarah took care of Annabelles messy leftovers, Nicole frantically tried to get her niece out of the dirty clothes. As if some instinct took over, Nicole gently lifted the child's arms so the shirt soaked in various foods appropriate for her age, and took the shirt off. She grabbed some handkerchiefs from the kitchen table and gently wiped some away before putting it in the bin.

"What pretty things are you gonna wear today?" Nicole quietly asked as she helped Annabelle out of her small trousers as well.

Annabelle pointed a tiny and delicate hand towards one of the chairs surrounding the dinner table, where Nicole now saw the pink clothes laying there, neatly folded and ready to be shown off. She sent a huge smile towards the child before her.

"Wow, aren't you just gonna be the prettiest princess at daycare today?" she said, and winked at her niece. Annabelle giggled and her cheeks turned almost as pink as the clothes she was about to wear.

Nicole grabbed the shirt and trousers, before carefully placing them correctly upon Annabelle. The little girl took a minute to admire herself by shifting her small arms and legs around. Nicole smiled even wider and turned her hand around in circles.

"C'mon, I can see you wanna do a little spin!" she grinned and in response, Annabelle did a clumsy version of a pirouette with a huge smile on her face. Nicole kept spinning her hand as to keep Annabelle going, and she would've kept going was it not for the little girl got so dizzy she almost hurt herself.

"Oei, watch out you, don't hurt that beautiful face!" Nicole exclaimed as the girl near fell into her arms of dizziness. Annabelle just grinned as she recovered from an ever-spinning world. Sarah smiled as she had cleaned up the mess, but the smile was quickly replaced by a stressful face as she glanced at her watch.

"Alright Belle, say bye to aunt Nic, we're going now. Give her kisses." Sarah said and gathered the most important things that Annabelle needed for her day at the daycare. Annabelle didn't hesitate to give Nicole a hug and a few sloppy kisses before prancing towards the door to get her shoes on. The little girl took much pride in being able to put her shoes on by herself, and hardly any one was allowed to put them on for her.

"Listen, I'm going to work today, so you'll be here alone most of the day."

Nicole's smile suddenly faded and turned into a horrified expression.

"Sarah, I can't be alone… What, what if he comes for me?"

Sarah grabbed Nicole's already shivering hands.

"Don't worry, Ian is here as well. Nobody will get past him, trust me. He's right outside, and so is Buddy."

Nicole had forgotten about the dog, and even if she wasn't too afraid him already, she still preferred that he was outside. She didn't seem to be convinced that the loving Labrador could hurt anyone, but she supposed that Sarah's word was as good as and silently nodded. Sarah held her hand for a few more seconds and didn't break the gaze that they held, not until she pulled her into a tight hug and gently began to stroke her hair.

"You _need_ to remember you're safe here. He can _never_ hurt you again, no one will let you. Mine and Will's phone number is on the kitchen counter, so if _anything_ comes up, call us." She whispered soothingly and felt some relief when her sister nodded slowly.

Sarah let go of Nicole and lightly hit her on the jaw.

"Chin up kiddo, you'll be alright."

Nicole rolled her eyes at the nickname that her sister, obviously, had not forgotten after all those years of painful separation. Sarah's step towards the door seemed to echo without end until the door shut with a gentle _thud_. Sudden panic hit Nicole, and her breathing suddenly became labored. She grabbed a chair and pulled it forward with shaking movements before she was able to sit on it. Just as she did the door was flung open, and Ian stood there.

"Are you alright? I could sense your hear-"he coughed lightly," you were making some ruckus?"

Sarah held her hand on her heart for a second, and nodded.

"Yes, sorry. I haven't been alone for quite some time…" she mumbled as if it explained it all. Although her panic seemed in place, she still thought of it as ridiculous. She had never seen a man with a chest or arms the size of Ian's. For a brief seconds, she wondered how his muscly arms would feel or what it would be like to fall asleep on his broad chest within the safety of the big arms. She quickly shook off the thought.

"Why is that?" he asked.

"The only time I was alone was whenever… Tom had beaten me." She mumbled even lower, and couldn't help but flinch when Ian came closer to listen.

"Why?" he asked again, eyeing her cautiously.

"Why he beat me, or why that was the only time I was alone?"

He shrugged. "Both."

Nicole took a deep breath to begin talking, but was interrupted by a gentle hand upon her shoulder.

"If you cannot bear to talk about it, don't."

Her heart skipped a beat before she managed to nod slightly.

"I think he needed to feel like he was the man, the dominant one. What better way was there to beat me? I was only alone after those beatings and as a result, I was in great pain afterwards. It was the only time I could somewhat ease them, but I'm not a nurse. I had no clue what I was doing, and usually it just involved a lot of painkillers. They seemed to make the problems disappear. But as he noticed how the amount of pills reduced, he removed them. I was in constant pain after that, as I could hardly ever leave the house without him, and if I added something to the cart which was not allowed, it just meant more beatings."

Ian said nothing, just listened. His hand never moved from her shoulder the entire time.

"If I may ask, did anyone not notice?"

Nicole shrugged.

"Everyone knew, but everyone feared him. He… he was always so smooth with his words, so charming," she snorted, "You never would've known he beat his wife."

"It has always been so." Ian quietly said and removed his hand from her shoulder. She looked at him with a quizzical look and he wasn't sure if she was actually confused or annoyed because of moving his hand. For some reason, he hoped it was the second option.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Ian coughed slightly.

"With all this war experience, it usually seems that those who come across as the nicest, kindest or most loving are those who are happily going to put a knife in your back or stab you in the chest. During war times, it is indeed a challenge to be able to trust anyone. Sadly your tale tells of the same, however during time of peace and love."

He seemed shocked, and shook his head. Nicole shrugged in response.

"How are you liking staying here?" he asked and hoped to get off the topic, which seemed to unsettle the petite woman a bit. She couldn't help but let out an insulted snort.

"Compared to I get no beatings, it's pretty great. I haven't seen Sarah in years, as he didn't let me have any contact with her. In an odd way, it is as if she is the missing piece that completes me," she giggled a bit, "some sort of soulmate I suppose."

She glanced at Ian, who had retreated his gaze towards the floor.

"Do you have any siblings?"

He shook his head, but she notice a small smile crept upon his scarred face.

"I have no brothers or sisters, but my comrades who go with me to war are as good as any."

"Have you gone to war with the doctor I met, and the other tall man?" she asked and slightly tilted her head to the side. She wondered how he could've gotten that scar over his eyes whereas the others seemed to be moderately in one piece. He nodded and that was the only response she got.

For a couple of minutes they both sat in silence, which was then interrupted by Buddy's whines and scratches on the door in an attempt to be let in. Nicole understood him, as the snow had quietly begun to fall. Ian looked to Nicole, who although had gotten a bit of a better relationship with the canine, still refrained from cuddling and petting him.

"Would you rather have him stay outside?"

Nicole swallowed the growing lump in her throat.

"Well, yes, but I can't be afraid of him always," she glanced at him and gave a tiny, insecure smile, "confronting your fears and all?"

Ian scoffed silently, and went to let the door in.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"I wouldn't say you've been confronting your fear of your husband then. You've just run to hide," he opened the door and let the dog inside, immediately ordering it to stay in his basket before turning to Nicole, "running never solves anything."

Ian said no more as he searched for a brush to make Buddy's fur look more appealing, and quietly sat down. With slow and careful moves he managed to get all the filth out of the fur. Nicole quietly continued to sit at her chair.

Never had she felt like more of a coward.


	16. Chapter 16

What Ian had told me earlier that day had left me feeling hollow and empty. He had left for the base just when the rest of the family came home, but I couldn't bother to say goodbye.

_You haven't confronted the fear of your husband. You have run, and you have hid._

I can still hear how he shaped the words, how they rolled off his tongue. With obvious mockery and certain disgust. She wondered if a man, a soldier, a marine like him never ran. Has he ever felt fear? Has he ever felt the need to run, until his chest was aching because of his pounding heart? I could vaguely hear how Sarah, Will and Annabelle were enjoying something on the television that made them all laugh.

I remembered how my chest felt when I had made attempts to run. No matter how diabolic my plans had been, he always knew, and always captured me. I stared out the window, and clutched my chest as my heart began to pound because of the memory.

_The full moon caused obnoxious amounts of light in the living room. Streaks of light go shine through the windows and I feel more vulnerable than if I was in the darkness. My legs are aching after the beating I got just a few hours prior. A sudden creak in the floor makes me freeze. _

_One second passes. Another one. Another second and soon I have lost count. It seems like an eternity._

_I slowly begin to move forward, staying in the shadows. I wonder if the cameras still are online, or if the guide I followed on some hacker website was correct. I stand close to a wall and begins to sneak alongside it before I face the camera. I faintly remember, that if the red light isn't there, what I did was right. If not…_

_Well, that makes shit so much more difficult. _

_I edge closer to the corner and slowly turn my eyes upwards. I see the camera, and there is no red light. I want to squeal in delight, but I hold it in._

_As I continue down the right where the camera is, I can't hold back my excitement. Each step becomes more daring and I can almost feel the wind in my hair and on my bruised skin. The front door – how I loathe the front door – is closing in on me. My hand shivers as it touches the cold handle and as it shivers down my spine, this feeling is only strengthened when I hear a sigh behind me._

"_Nicole, Nicole, Nicole. You are stupid."_

_My hair clings to my mouth as I swirl around and face Tom. He is standing in his usual sleeping trousers, with no shirt on. He's been getting a beer gut lately, and I don't try to hide my disgust._

"_Stupid for marrying you, you mean?" I asked, with a coy smile upon my lips. _

_It seemed only when I was making feeble attempts to escape his grasp, I could fight back. Otherwise I was a puppet. His puppet. _

"_Stupid for thinking you can escape our marriage. We are bonded eternally, before God." _

_I scoffed, and got a tighter grip around the handle before me. It was as if I was a paralyzed deer and before me stood a snarling wolf. The ferocity of him was not shown with teeth, like wolves did. I saw it in his eyes. I had no choice, and with a swirl, I opened the door and ran._

_He was quickly after me, but the second I stepped outside of my prison, I managed to slam the door. I let out a grin when I could hear him smash against the white door, and grunt when he rubbed his eyes as he left his house. _

_I had always been a runner. I was at track during high school, and was one of the top girls in my class. I rarely finished less than second, and I had a fierce competitive instinct._

_These seemed to be my hardest track competitions ever. Not running for a prize or recognition. _

_I was running for my freedom._

_My legs started to feel like jelly. It became more difficult to run and soon my world began to spin. I lost my breath, stumbled and fell to the ground. I cursed as I lay on my back and saw Tom approaching. He always took his time when I had failed to escape. He enjoyed watching me see the hint of freedom disappear from my eyes. _

"_You can't escape from me." _

A sudden knock on my door and the creak of the hinges as it opened made me flinch. I saw Sarah stand in the door.

"How was your day alone?" she asked with a smile, and sat on my bed.

I refrained from sitting next to her, and shrugged instead.

"Nothing special. Had a bit of a talk with Ian." I said, and said no more.

Sarah nodded slowly, before eyeing me suspiciously.

"What's wrong?"

I hated it when she did that.

"Nothing." I said and shrugged again.

"You are lying to me."

I hated this even more.

"Sarah, I am not lying to you," I said with a nervous grin; "why would I lie?"

"Because you'd rather keep peace in the house rather than telling what's wrong."

I tried to do a laugh that would come across as if nothing had happened.

"Don't do that laughing thing with me – didn't work 15 years ago, doesn't work now."

"Sarah, please. Can I just have some time to myself?" I asked, a little more bitchy than before.

For a minute, we had an intense staring competition going on, just like when we were younger. Although Sarah was definitely the sterner one of us, I had always won those. She left without a word.

Three things I hate about my sister right there.

* * *

The minute that Sarah had left Nicole's room, she announced to Will that she was going to the base to talk to Ironhide.

"Okay darling, I'll cook up some dinner." Will said with a smile as he kissed his wife on the cheek. Annabelle was quietly sitting by the kitchen table and drawing ponies and unicorns. She took a minute's break when she heard her mother shut the door behind her and the words that her dad would be making dinner.

"Daddy, does this mean we get pizza?"

With a sly smile, Will nodded and quickly found the menu to the local pizza place. Annabelle squealed in excitement, and quickly began to recite all her favorite dishes that she'd like for dinner.

"Hang on sweetcheeks, I need to ask aunt Nicole what she'd like for dinner." He grinned and began making his way upstairs.

"No daddy wait! I want to bring the menu to auntie!" she excited said, and clumsily managed to get down from the chair she was sitting on.

"Alright princess, go upstairs to auntie. Remember to knock."

Annabelle nodded in excitement, and went for the stairs. She struggled slightly, but managed to get to the top of them nonetheless. She turned around and proudly waved to her daddy before she descended into the hall. She stumbled down the hall with her clumsy movements, and when she made it to Nicole's room, she forgot to knock. Nicole were still standing near the window, but when Annabelle came bursting in, she quickly positioned herself on the bed.

"Auntie auntie! We're having pizza because mommy has gone to the base!" she proudly exclaimed, and bounced up and down as she held the menu card high in her hands.

"Why, that sounds delicious B! What is your favorite?" Nicole asked and lifted Annabelle unto her lap. Before being able to stop her, Annabelle was sharing all her favorite dishes, contently waving her legs back and forth.

* * *

Sarah had always been told that it was a bad idea to drive when particularly emotional, but she didn't care much. She could tell that Ironhide had said something he shouldn't, like he always did.

_Cold-sparked son of a…_

There weren't many people on the roads at that time. Not like there ever was.

When Will had announced the truth about the Transformers after they first arrived, he had felt obliged to stay with them. Not so much because of the military backstory, but more because of how he was genuinely interested in the story behind the massive robots. Last not to mention how a certain one had grown fond of his child, whom he adored more than anything else. Sarah knew that they should never fear again with Optimus Prime and the rest at their backs.

Unless the Decepticons were returning.

That was the only fear Sarah had. But it was rooted deep inside of her heart, and unless Ironhide was staying the night, loyally parked outside their house, sleep didn't always come easily. She sighed heavily, and turned on some music to distract her.

The drive was usually an hour away, but it seemed like so much more when she finally rolled down her window. It was usually the same soldiers that were at duty at the base. At first she had wondered why they never changed, but since she wasn't familiar with how the military deployment worked, she hadn't thought much about it. She later learned that it would breach security if any were ever to leave, as it wasn't sure if the soldiers who left would tell.

"Evening mrs. Lennox – what you doin' out here at this time?"

She smiled politely and wondered – again, military wasn't one of her forces – why they were always so courteous and polite.

"Just here for some chatter." She smiled back, and nodded when the bar went up. With ease she parked her own car, which was, as always outshined by the vehicles the Transformers so cleverly used as disguises. She had barely shut her door before she saw Optimus Prime approaching.

"As always, it is wonderful to see you Sarah. But what could possibly bring you out here, and at this hour?" he asked, his voice booming in her ears as it tended to.

"I need to see your weapon specialist." She said and when Prime awaited further information, he simply told her that he was conversing with Ratchet.

The tiny woman thanked him and then proceeded to stomp off into the direction that Prime had given her. He was unsure whether he should warn Ironhide or not, but in the end, he quickly opened a communication link between himself and the specialist.

_Ironhide, the miss is not very happy with you_.

Before he was even able to process a question, Ironhide saw Sarah before him.

"What did you tell my sister today, you cold-sparked…" she sneered and sternly placed her hands on her hips. Ironhide looked to Ratchet, then back to Sarah, before he grunted.

"I said that she hadn't confronted her fears, and that she was only running from her problems."

Sarah's mouthed shaped into a tiny 'o', before she started to angrily pace around in a circle.

"Are you daft?"

"I am certainly no-"

"Well so it bloody seems, you daft mech!" she interrupted, and glared at him before continuing her circle.

"I am not da-"

"You can't tell a woman, scarred for life about she hasn't confronted her problems! She has fought for her life for _years_, been a prisoner in her own damn home," she stopped her circle, and did some odd movements that, Ironhide thought, was supposed to resemble a tiny version of himself, "but then you come along, totally _obliterating_ what hint of confidence she had been getting."

"Now, Sarah, Ironhide meant only tha-" Ratchet began, but before he even had the chance to finish a sentence, Sarah spun around and glared at him.

"Leave."

With some annoying whirring sounds, Ratchet took his leave, and shrugged as Ironhide looked after him in despair.

"Ironhide…" she said, and he looked at her once more.

"Yes, tiny one?"

"I _hate_ it when you call me that, now shut up and listen to me!" she roared, and sighed, her voice turning soft.

"Have you ever felt helpless?"

"No."

"Have you ever been defenseless?"

"Certainly not."

"Have running ever been your only option?"

"What are you getting at?" he said, and let out his massive hand to carry Sarah.

She rejected his offer, but instead just rested her hand on his.

"What do you think it feels like to be all of this I just mentioned?"

"Sounds horrible. Does it mean I wouldn't have my guns either?"

Sarah nodded, and she could almost feel how the mere thought made Ironhide cringe.

"Must be horrible," he mumbled, before his voice regained strength, "but she has only been running!"

Sarah shook her head in annoyance.

"Quit being a badmerch already. We all know you're soft inside."

"I certainly am not!"

"Soft like _butter_!" Sarah teased and squealed when a large finger, the size of her entire torso, poked her.

"Seriously. Be nice to her."

They walked in silence for a while as they made their way towards Sarah's car.

"Do you not like her?" She silently asked as she leaned up against the vehicle.

He remained silent.

"I don't really talk to her. It seems she'd rather not talk to me."

"Well, after what you said today, don't expect her to come running."

"But all femmes come running after me…" he mumbled in annoyance, and kicked some dust up in annoyance.

Sarah laughed loudly.

"No, they don't. I come running after you, but that's for another reason entirely, and not something that I enjoy." She said as she opened her car door and got inside.

Ironhide scoffed.

"You love it. Nothing is more fearful than an angry femme."

"Exactly. One day, she'll come after you. If you don't destroy her self-confidence before then. " she replied through the open window. She put the key in the ignition and with a pitiful roar the car came to life. Ironhide didn't look at her.

I'll be more sensitive." He mumbled.

Sarah scoffed and laughed again as she began to drive away.

"That's what they all say." She mumbled as the open road was before her once again.


	17. Chapter 17

A bit of harsh words in this chapter fellas - thanks for reading my stories anyway! Hope you're all doing good, and keep those reviews coming! :)

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A short while after Sarah had left Ironhide both Ratchet and Optimus Prime approached the mech in curiosity.

"May I ask what this was about?" the Prime gently asked, towering over the weapon specialist. Ratchet said nothing, but just awaited Ironhide's answer.

"She was fuming about what I told her sister", Ironhide stated flatly. He said no more until he looked upon his two comrades, who expected him to go on.

"That's all."

Ratchet snorted in his usual demeanor.

"A fuming Sarah is never 'all' with you 'Hide. After so many centuries of life with us, we know you better, as you know us."

Ironhide couldn't help but twist his faceplates into a slight smile. Optimus remained silent still, before he spoke.

"I am not sure I have quite understood the situation with Sarah's sparksister. Can you enlighten me, Ironhide?"

"Nicole, the sparksister's designation, was physically, mentally and sexually abused. That made her run, and I reckon it's the wrong thing to do."

Optimus and Ratchet looked at each other, and even though the communication and bond between them went vastly beyond human technology, they needed no such thing to think the exact same thing. Ironhide had a remarkable skill to simplify every matter of difficult situation, moral and ethics, just like he had done in this case.

If the problem could be shot, the problem would be gone. If it could be eradicated in some other way, find it out. Usually, 'talking it out' was never the solution.

"Ironhide…" Optimus began, before he was interrupted.

"Yes yes, I'm daft and whatnot."

Optimus let out a laugh.

"Hardly my old friend. You are quite the intellect mech, in your own particular way. Never have I ever seen a mech with the weapon mechanics such as yours, as I have never seen one with the medic talents of Ratchet. Believe me when I say you're not daft, but the opposite.", Optimus said and placed a large hand on Ironhide's shoulder, before tweaking a smile unto the mech, "nonetheless, humans do not have a power near as vast as yours in the mere palm of their servo, hand, if you will. Whereas I understand, and somewhat agree that running does not solve much, if anything at all, that may be the only option."

Ironhide nodded, and Optimus turned his face away with a somber expression to gaze upon the stars instead.

"Had we a choice to stay and fight for Cybertron?"

"No, we did not Prime."

"We all know what would have happened if we had stayed – Cybertron have perished, and had we stayed, we had perished with it."

It was clear to both Ratchet and Optimus that Ironhide had never thought of it that way, and even more obvious, was the mech's embarrassment over his intolerance.

"I apologize my Prime, I never sho-"

"It is not to I you should apologize. Apologize to this Nicole. She is not the strong mech you are, and she will never be. But strength is measured in many ways, and even if you do not like it, the guns at your disposal, will not carry you forever."

Ironhide let out a slight scoff. As if strength ever would ever not be measured in guns!

"Please Ironhide, remember this. One day the strength of you weapons will not be enough to carry you."

With those words, Optimus Prime took his departure with a slight 'rest well' greeting before he transformed into his usual shape. He said no more, but silently drove off into the hanger next to some other Autobots.

Ratchet merely looked upon Ironhide.

"I know you'll hate me for agreeing with him, but I'm afraid he speaks the truth. Mechanical strength will only get you so far", Ratchet placed a hand upon Ironhide's hidden sparkchamber ," but strength in spark will truly take you places."

Ironhide pushed the hand off, before he too departed from their positions. He was on patrol for the night, and transformed so he could easier scout the borders of their base. He loathed it when Prime and Ratchet ganged up on him as such, but he always knew that it was necessary at times. With a mechanical sigh, he slowly began to drive in what seemed to be unending circles, and stopped not until the Earth sun had begun to rise in the east.

* * *

She had been lost for 3 weeks now.

21 days.

Almost a month.

Just the thought filled the middle-aged man with rage. His hands were soft and delicate, and he had always hated it. He thought they made him come across as… _feminine_.

Disgusting, he thought. He hated the homosexuals. He hated them faggots, and he hated the niggers. That was how he was raised and had never questioned it. He had hid it well when he met Nicole, this homophobic and racist nature of his. The problems in their marriage showed when he began to reveal his true self, and, he thought, that Nicole all of sudden neglected her duties as a woman.

Bear his children, clean his house, and feed his dogs and himself. The job of women.

But she had escaped. The bitch had escaped without a trace. The usual people who had managed to track her down had failed, and he had lost his wife. In rage, he pounded the steering wheel of his truck, and nearly swerved off the lane. The vehicle behind him honked in annoyance, and he merely flipped the man off in the rearview mirror.

Although his wife had escaped, he feared not. As his father, he was a man who took precautions. Nicole and her whore sister had done well in trying to conceal the residence of their mother, but eventually, some friends of his tracked her down. It didn't take too long to drive from his own, now empty, house to find their mother. He vaguely remembered her, but he didn't care. He drove down the road that his friends had found, and stopped in front of the right house.

She recognized the truck. The same old but yet sparkly Ford truck. She remembered how he insisted on using his own truck to drive her daughter away when they got married. As he stopped out of the car, she quickly retreated from the windows, locked all the doors. Her dog, Lucky sensed the danger and quickly stood next to her owner as she dialed 911, her eyes constantly at the door. Although a woman up in her age, 67 next year, she wasn't one to go down without a fight.

"911, what is your emergency?"

"Yes, this is Emma Williamson. A man is trying to break into my house, I need the police here!" she tried to sound as desperate as possible, in an attempt to make the situation seem more dire, and the quicker the dispatch of the help she needed.

"Alright ma'am, I will send some police officers to your residence immediately, but please give me your address first."

Emma quickly gave the woman her address and accepted the offer of staying on the phone with the woman until the police had gotten there. Lucky bared her teeth as she heard loud bangs on the door. Emma stood perfectly still with a wooden baseball bat in one hand, and her phone in the other. As the bangs got progressively louder, Lucky began to bark and Emma dropped her phone. She could vaguely hear the woman on the phone repeating the polite 'ma'am' again and again, before she heard the voice no more. As Tom smashed the door harder and harder, the noises grew progressively louder, until there was silence. Emma could vaguely see how he went to a window, and smashed the glass. Trying to dodge the shattered glass, he climbed in through the broken window.

"Hello Emma." He smiled.

He had always had such a soft voice, even before he married Nicole.

"What do you want Tom?" Emma coldly asked, and shushed at Lucky as she began to growl at the large man a couple of feet in front of her.

"I want you. Well, more need you than anything else."

"You really think I'd help out a soulless man like yourself?"

"Not if you could get away with it, no. But that's the thing – you have no choice."

Emma snorted, but held the bat in her hand even tighter.

"I am not going to give myself up to you, you beast."

Tom smiled deviously and slowly began to move forward.

"As I said, you have no choice."

Lucky couldn't contain herself anymore, and within a flash, she had gotten her powerful jaw around Tom's lower arm, dragging with all the strength that she could muster. Tom began to shout in pain, and with a powerful punch, he managed to hit the dog's head. She whimpered but refused to let go, and Tom only punched her several times before she let go, and weakly scampered off, only to slip into an unconscious state of mind.

"You got some nerve comin' back here Tom." Emma sneered, and held the bat high as he slowly approached.

"You know you don't stand a chance, my dear Emma. If you put the bat down, I won't hurt you."

"Much?"

"You always put words in my mouth! But yes, I won't hurt you much if you just go quietly."

He stopped and let out his hands as if to make him seem defenseless.

"Well, what will it be? Get yourself hurt, or come quietly?"

"Like hell I'll come quietly!" the older woman shouted and raised the bat.

She didn't even get a chance to hit Tom properly, as he easily disarmed her. The bat fell out of her hands and she groaned as he struck her wrist with unrelenting force. With a punch to her stomach she fell to the floor, groaning louder in agony. She weakly tried to punch him in the groin, but missed several times. Time had seemed to stop as she laid there in agony, until he violently turned her around. She saw Tom smiling down at her, before he crouched down with a handkerchief in his hand. He was dipping some sort of fluid it on, and Emma guessed that it would be chloroform.

"I'm afraid I need you alive. Sniff this dear, and you'll be just fine", he said as he reached over to place the handkerchief over her mouth. Before he could she managed to slap him. In rage, he slapped her back, leaving a red hot trace of a hand on her face, and violently slapped the handkerchief over her mouth. She weakly fought back, but quickly slipped into unconsciousness.

As her body felt limp, Tom let her head touch the floor. The dog remained still, and this, he grabbed his own hammer, and started to smash things. A vase and a lamp went scattering across the floor, and he violently ripped up the covers for the couch. On the fireplace, he saw several pictures of their family. He saw his father, mother and sister-in-law hugging his wife tightly, and in fury, he swept his arms across it, smashing it down to the floor. After he had made sure the place looked like an absolute mess, robbed, the dog left to die and the woman abducted, he picked up the elderly lady's body and walked out of the car. The moon guided him to his truck, and he carelessly dumped the woman in the front seat. With a revving engine, he quickly left the ravaged home.

"Nicole my dear, I'm coming for you."

As the car drove away, a woman having a midnight stroll noticed the number on the license plates.

"7H80C, 7H80C…" she slowly chanted to herself, and noticed the open door to the house. Quietly she entered, and let out a gasp of distress when she noticed the wrecked home, but squealed in joy when she saw the unconscious dog on the floor. The woman was young and strong, but even so, it was not easy to carry a golden retriever home. She groaned as she struggled to carry the dog, and slowly begun to make her way home.


End file.
